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Hints on Driving By: C. S. Ward |
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HINTS ON DRIVING.
BY
C. S. WARD,
THE WELL KNOWN "WHIP OF THE WEST,"
PAXTON STABLES, OPPOSITE TATTERSALL'S.
LONDON:
PUBLISHED BY THE AUTHOR,
74, LITTLE CADOGAN PLACE, BELGRAVIA.
1870.
HINTS ON DRIVING. BY C. S. WARD, THE WELL KNOWN "WHIP OF THE WEST," Paxton Stables (opposite Tattersall's).
It has been said, and not, perhaps, without reason, that a man who is
conscious that he possesses some practical knowledge of a science, and
yet refrains from giving the public the benefit of his information, is
open to the imputation of selfishness. To avoid that charge, as far as
lies in my power, I purpose, in the course of the following pages, to
give my readers the benefit of my tolerably long experience in the art
of driving four horses an art which I acquired under the following
circumstances. My father was a coach proprietor as well as a coachman, and, I am proud
to say, one of the best whips of his day. He gave me many opportunities
of driving a team. I will not, however, enter into all the details of my
youthful career, but proceed to state, that at the early age of
seventeen I was sent nightly with the Norwich and Ipswich Mail as far as
Colchester, a distance of fifty two miles. Never having previously
travelled beyond Whitechapel Church, on that line of road, the change
was rather trying for a beginner. But Fortune favoured me; and I drove
His Majesty's Mail for nearly five years without an accident. I was then
promoted to the "Quicksilver," Devonport Mail, the fastest at that time
out of London. It must be admitted that I undertook this task under
difficult circumstances involving as it did, sixty miles a night since
many had tried it ineffectually, or at all events were unable to
accomplish the duty satisfactorily. It is gratifying to me to reflect,
that I drove this coach more than seven years without a single mishap. Getting at length rather tired of such incessant and monotonous nightly
work, I applied for a change to my employer, the well known and
much respected Mr. Chaplin, who at that time had seventeen hundred
horses employed in coaching. His reply was characteristic. "I cannot
find you all day coaches," said he; "besides, who am I to get to drive
your Mail?" I must say, I thought this rather severe at the time, but,
good and kind hearted man as he was, he did not forget me. Not long after this interview, the Brighton Day Mail being about to
start, he made me the offer, to drive the whole distance and horse the
coach a stage, with the option of driving it without horsing. Like most
young men I was rather ambitious, and closed with the former conditions.
The speculation, however, did not turn out a very profitable one, and,
the railway making great progress, I sold my horses to Mr. Richard
Cooper, who was to succeed me on the box. I was then offered the
far famed Exeter "Telegraph," one of the fastest and best appointed
coaches in England. My fondness for coaching still continuing, and not
feeling disposed to settle to any business, I drove this coach from
Exeter to Ilminster and back, a distance of sixty six miles, early in
the morning and late at night. After driving it three years, the railway
opened to Bridgewater; this closed the career of the once celebrated
"Telegraph." But those who had so long shared its success, were not
inclined to knock under. My brother coachman and myself, together with
the two guards, accordingly started a "Telegraph" from Devonport to
London, a distance of ninety five miles by road, joining the rail at
Bridgewater, thus making the whole journey two hundred and fifty miles
in one day. At that time there was a coach called the "Nonpareil,"
running from Devonport to Bristol. The proprietors of this vehicle, thinking that our's would take off some
of their trade, made their's a London coach also, and started at the
same time as we did... Continue reading book >>
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