| Year. | Hackney Drivers. | Stage Drivers. | Conductors. | Watermen. | Total. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1843 | 4,627 | 1,740 | 1,854 | 371 | 8,592 |
| 1844 | 4,927 | 1,833 | 1,961 | 390 | 9,111 |
| 1845 | 5,199 | 1,825 | 1,930 | 363 | 9,317 |
| 1846 | 5,356 | 1,865 | 2,051 | 354 | 9,626 |
| 1847 | 5,109 | 1,830 | 2,009 | 342 | 9,290 |
| 1848 | 5,231 | 1,736 | 2,017 | 352 | 9,836 |
| 1849 | 5,487 | 1,731 | 2,026 | 375 | 9,619 |
| 1850[34] | 5,114 | 1,463 | 1,484 | 352 | 8,413 |
| Totals | 41,050 | 14,023 | 17,332 | 2,899 | 73,804 |
By this it will be seen that the drivers and conductors of the metropolitan stage and hackney carriages were in 1849 no less than 9619, whereas in 1841, including coachmen of all kinds, guards and postboys, there were only 5428 in the metropolis; so that within the last ten years the class, at the very least, must have more than doubled itself.
Hackney-Coaches and Cabs.
I shall now proceed to give an account of the rise and progress of the London hackney-cabs, as well as the decline and fall of the London hackney-coaches.
Nearly all the writers on the subject state that hackney-coaches were first established in London in 1625; that they were not then stationed in the streets, but at the principal inns, and that their number grew to be considerable after the Restoration. There seems to be no doubt that these conveyances were first kept at the inns, and sent out when required—as post-chaises were, and are still, in country towns. It may very well be doubted, however, whether the year 1625 has been correctly fixed upon as that in which hackney-carriages were established in London. It is so asserted in Macpherson’s “Annals of Commerce,” but it is thus loosely and vaguely stated: “Our historiographers of the city of London relate that it was in this year (1625) that hackney-coaches first began to ply in London streets, or rather at the inns, to be called for as they are wanted; and they were, at this time, only twenty in number.” One of the City “historiographers,” however, if so he may be called, makes a very different statement. John Taylor, the waterman and the water-poet, says in 1623 (two years before the era usually assigned), “I do not inveigh against any coaches that belong to persons of worth and quality, but only against the caterpillar swarm of hirelings. They have undone my poor trade, whereof I am a member; and though I look for no reformation, yet I expect the benefit of an old proverb, ‘Give the losers leave to speak.’... This infernal swarm of tradespellers (hackney-coachmen) have so overrun the land that we can get no living upon the water; for I dare truly affirm that in every day in any term, especially if the Court be at Whitehall, they do rob us of our livings, and carry 500 fares daily from us.”
Of the establishment of hackney-coach “stands,” we have a more precise account. The Rev. Mr. Garrard, writing to Lord Stafford in 1638, says, “Here is one Captain Baily, he hath been a sea-captain but now lives on land, about this city, where he tries experiments. He hath erected, according to his ability, some four hackney-coaches, put his men in livery, and appointed them to stand at the Maypole in the Strand, giving them instructions at what rate to carry men into several parts of the town, where all day they may be had. Other hackney-men, seeing this way, they flocked to the same place, and perform the journeys at the same rate. So that sometimes there is twenty of them together, which disperse up and down, that they and others are to be had everywhere, as watermen are to be had at the water-side. Everybody is much pleased with it.” The site of the Maypole that once “o’erlooked the Strand,” is now occupied by St. Mary’s church.
There were after this many regulations passed for the better management of hackney-coaches. In 1652 their number was ordered to be limited to 200; in 1654, to 300; in 1661, to 400; in 1694, to 700. These limitations, however, seem to have been but little regarded. Garrard, writing in 1638, says, “Here is a proclamation coming forth about the reformation of hackney-coaches, and ordering of other coaches about London. One thousand nine hundred was the number of hackney-coaches of London, bare lean jades, unworthy to be seen in so brave a city, or to stand about a king’s court.” As within the last twenty-seven years, when cabs and omnibuses were unknown, the number of hackney-carriages was strictly limited to 1200, it seems little likely that nearly two centuries earlier there should have been so many as 1900. It is probable that “glass” and “hackney-coaches” had been confounded somehow in the enumeration.
It was not until the ninth year of Queen Anne’s reign that an Act was passed appointing Commissioners for the licensing and superintending of hackney-coachmen. Prior to that they seem to have been regulated and licensed by the magistracy. The Act of Anne authorised the number of hackney-coaches to be increased to 800, but not until the expiration of the existing licenses in 1715. In 1771 there was again an additional number of hackney-coach licenses granted—1000; which was made 1200 in 1799. In the last-mentioned year a duty was for the first time placed on hired carriages of all descriptions. It was at first 5s. a-week, but that sum was not long after raised to 10s. a-week, to be paid in advance; while the license was raised from 2l. 10s. to 5l. The duties upon all hackney-carriages is still maintained at the advanced rate.
The hackney-carriages, when their number became considerable after the Restoration, were necessarily small, though drawn by two horses. The narrowness of the streets before the great fire, and the wretched condition of the pavement, rendered the use of large and commodious vehicles impossible. Davenant says of hackney-carriages, “They are unusually hung, and so narrow that I took them for sedans on wheels.” The hackney-coachman then rode one of his horses, postilion-fashion; but when the streets were widened, he drove from his seat on the box. In the latter days of London hackney-coaches they were large enough without being commodious. They were nearly all noblemen’s and gentlemen’s disused family coaches, which had been handed over to the coachmaker when a new carriage was made. But it was not long that these coaches retained the comfort and cleanliness that might distinguish them when first introduced into the stand. The horses were, as in the Rev. Mr. Garrard’s time, sorry jades, sometimes cripples, and the harness looked as frail as the carriages. The exceptions to this description were few, for the hackney-coachmen possessed a monopoly and thought it unchangeable. They were of the same class of men—nearly all gentlemen’s servants or their sons. The obtaining of a license for a hackney-coach was generally done through interest. It was one way in which many peers and members of Parliament provided for any favourite servant, or for the servant of a friend. These “patrons,” whether peers or commoners, were not uncommonly called “lords;” a man was said to be sure of a license if he had “a great lord for his friend.”
The “takings” of the London hackney-coachmen, as I have ascertained from some who were members of the body, were 10l. 10s. a-week the year through, the months of May, June, and July, being the best, when their earnings were from 15l. to 18l. a-week. Out of this three horses had to be maintained. During the war times the quality of oats which are now 18s. a quarter were 60s., while hay and the other articles of the horses’ consumption were proportionately dear. The expense of repair to the coach or harness was but trifling, as they were generally done by the hackney-man himself, or by some hanger-on at the public-houses frequented by the fraternity.