CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY

1610. Patent granted for an Edinburgh and Leith waggon-coach.

1648. Southampton weekly stage casually mentioned.

1657. Stage-coaches introduced: the London and Chester Stage.

1658. First Exeter Stage.

” First York and Edinburgh Stage.

1661. First Oxford Stage.

” Glass windows first used in carriages: the Duke of York’s carriage.

1662. Only six stage-coaches said to have been existing.

1665. Norwich Stage first mentioned.

1667. Bath Flying Machine established.

” London and Oxford Coach, in 2 days, established.

1669. London and Oxford Flying Coach, in 1 day, established.

1673. Stages to York, Chester, and Exeter advertised.

1679. London and Birmingham Stage, by Banbury, mentioned.

1680. “Glass-coaches” mentioned.

1681. Stage-coaches become general: 119 in existence.

1706. London to York in 4 days.

1710 (about). Stage-coaches provided with glazed windows.

1730. “Baskets” or “rumble-tumbles” introduced about this period.

1734. Teams of horses changed every day, instead of coaches going to end of journey with same animals.

” Quick service advertised: Edinburgh to London in 9 days.

1739. According to Pennant, gentlemen who were active horsemen still rode, instead of going by coach.

1742. London to Oxford in 2 days.

” London to Birmingham, by Oxford, in 3 days.

1751. London to Dover in 1½ days.

1753. Outsides carried on Shrewsbury Stage.

1754. London and Manchester Flying Coach in 4½ days.

” Springs to coaches first mentioned: the Edinburgh Stage.

” London and Edinburgh in 10 days.

1758. London and Liverpool Flying Machine in 3 days.

1760. London and Liverpool Leeds Flying Coach advertised in 3 days: took 4.

1763. London and Edinburgh only once a month, and in 14 days.

1776. First duty on stage-coaches imposed.

1780. Stage-coaches become faster than postboys.

1782. Pennant describes contemporary travelling by light post-coaches as “rapid journeys in easy chaises, fit for the conveyance of the soft inhabitants of Sybaris.”

1784. Mail-coach system established.

1800 (about). Fore and hind boots, framed to body of coach, become general.

” Coaches in general carry outside passengers.

1805. Springs under driving-box introduced.

1819. “Patent Safety” coaches come into frequent use, to reassure travelling public, alarmed by frequent accidents.

1824. Rise of the fast day-coaches: the Golden Age of coaching.

” Stockton and Darlington Railway opened: first beginnings of the railway era.

1830. Liverpool and Manchester Railway opened: coaching first seriously threatened.

1838. London and Birmingham Railway opened: first great blow to coaching; coaches taken off Holyhead Road as far as Birmingham.

1839. Eastern Counties Railway opened to Chelmsford.

1840. Great Western Railway opened to Reading.

” London and Southampton Railway opened to Portsmouth: coaches taken off Portsmouth Road.

1841. Great Western Railway opened to Bath and Bristol: coaches taken off Bath Road.

” Brighton Railway opened: coaching ends on Brighton Road.

1842. Last London and York Mail-coach.

1844. Great Western Railway opened to Exeter: last coaches taken off Exeter Road.

1845. Railways reach Norwich.

” Eastern Counties Railway opened to Cambridge.

1846. Edinburgh and Berwick Railway opened.

1847. East Anglian Railway opened to King’s Lynn.

1848. “Bedford Times,” one of the last long-distancecoaches withdrawn.

” Eastern Counties Railway opened to Colchester.

” Great Western Railway opened to Plymouth.

1849. Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway opened.

1850. Chester and Holyhead Railway opened.

1874. Last of the mail-coaches: the Thurso and Wick Mail gives place to the Highland Railway.