Sherlock
Holmes' Town Transport
A potted
history of the Hansom cab
The Hansom cab, as favoured
by Sherlock Holmes as a method
of getting around the city, is, or rather was, a horse-drawn carriage.
Designed
and patented by one Joseph Hansom, an architect from York, in 1834.
Hansom realised that there was a need for a lighter, more
manouverable, type of transport than the Hackney carriage at the time.
The Hackney carriage was much more cumbersome,
being a four
wheeled carriage, drawn by a pair of horses, and seating six people. By
contrast, the Hansom was much lighter, only two wheels, and only needed
one
horse to pull it’s load of two passengers and driver.
Being much more manouverable, able to
turn round in it’s own
length, speedier, and able to cope easily with the congestion that was
already
becoming notorious in London at the turn of the century, the Hansom
rapidly
became popular. The fact that for a given journey they were quite a bit
cheaper
than the Hackney did no harm for their reputation either.
Of course, as today, many journeys were
undertaken by just
one or two people, (Holmes and Watson for example), and often the
Hackney
carriage was only a third full, making the Hansom cab a better bet.
However, they were not totally enclosed, the
front of the cab had just folding doors which protected the occupants
feet and
legs from mud etc. and they soon gained a reputation as being a bit
“racy”, it
was not done for ladies to travel alone in them.
The original Hansom cab, as designed by
Joseph Hansom, was
to combine speed with safety, having a surprisingly low centre of
gravity,
which made cornering safe. This design was altered by John Chapman, who
felt
that it was not sufficiently practical. However, although the design
was
altered, the patent held, and the name Hansom cab was retained.
The cab, as previously mentioned, sat
two passengers
comfortably, three at a squeeze. The driver sat behind and above the
cab on a
sprung seat, giving him visibility and control. The passengers were
able to
communicate with the driver through a trapdoor just behind their heads
in the
roof. The occupants would also pay the driver through this trapdoor. He
would
then operate a lever, releasing the door so they could get out.
Problems with
non-payers even then!
Over the years the cab was modified,
with the addition of a
glass window above the doors to enclose the passengers, and a curved
fender
mounted in front of the doors to stop flying stones etc. thrown up by
the
horse’s hooves. Depending upon which illustrations, films, and TV shows
you
have seen you will probably have seen Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson
use all
these varieties.
At the height of their popularity there were
around 3000
Hansom cabs in use in London, and they had spread to many other cities
and
large towns in the UK. They were also popular in Europe, being
particularly
well represented in Paris, St. Petersburg, and Berlin. By the late
1890’s they
had been introduced to the United States, where they were in common use
in New
York City.
The Hansom cab remained popular until the 1920’s,
when the
internal combustion engine had found it’s way into cheap, reliable
transport
for the masses. Surprisingly however, the last Hackney cab licence was
not
issued until 1947. Quite a success story, I wonder if Sherlock Holmes
envisaged them lasting so long?
Chris Haycock
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