Call me old-fashioned, but I rue the day hansom cabs stopped being a form of public transport. As a kid, I was obsessed with Sherlock Holmes books, and those stories resulted in my holding a far more romantic view of hansom cabs than I reasonably should. In reality, I suspect they were cold, drafty, and uncomfortable. But in literature, a reader easily draws a different conclusion, focusing, instead, on the mystery and intrigue so often surrounding the carriages. During Victorian times, a woman riding in a hansom cab was quite scandalous. (A carriage for two--Oh mon dieu!) Proper ladies used the enclosed, four-seater carriage called a “landau.” Yet, when reading Sherlock Holmes novels, I always imagined myself zipping around London in the scandalous hansom, which was much faster and more maneuverable than the cumbersome landau. Weaving in and out of traffic in a forbidden carriage! Ooh la la! What fun! Scandal in London!
In Victorian times, Londoners also had transportation choices of horse-drawn trams and horse-drawn buses, but if one were in a hurry—as Mr. Sherlock Holmes frequently was—the hansom cab was the way to go, if one could afford it. The poor walked. The mass-transit trams and buses provided the lowest fares, but amongst the private carriages one could hire, hansom cabs were cheaper than landaus because they required only one horse, thus lowering the carriage owner’s operating expenses.
Joseph Aloysius Hansom patented his cab design in 1834, billing the vehicle as a “safety cab” because the carriage’s center of gravity was lower than in other types of two-wheeled carriages, so the hansom had fewer accidents. Londoners wanting to summon a hansom cab had several options. One could prearrange with a cab driver to arrive at one’s door at a certain time. Or, if a cab was nearby, one could simply shout for it. If a cab was not nearby, one could pay a street urchin to run to the nearest stable or cabstand to fetch one. Or, as an upper-crust gent might do, one could purchase a cab-whistle and toot once for a four-wheeler or twice for a hansom.
Check out this video dated 1896 showing various forms of London transportation crossing Blackfriars Bridge—including jaunty hansom cabs!
In Victorian times, Londoners also had transportation choices of horse-drawn trams and horse-drawn buses, but if one were in a hurry—as Mr. Sherlock Holmes frequently was—the hansom cab was the way to go, if one could afford it. The poor walked. The mass-transit trams and buses provided the lowest fares, but amongst the private carriages one could hire, hansom cabs were cheaper than landaus because they required only one horse, thus lowering the carriage owner’s operating expenses.
Joseph Aloysius Hansom patented his cab design in 1834, billing the vehicle as a “safety cab” because the carriage’s center of gravity was lower than in other types of two-wheeled carriages, so the hansom had fewer accidents. Londoners wanting to summon a hansom cab had several options. One could prearrange with a cab driver to arrive at one’s door at a certain time. Or, if a cab was nearby, one could simply shout for it. If a cab was not nearby, one could pay a street urchin to run to the nearest stable or cabstand to fetch one. Or, as an upper-crust gent might do, one could purchase a cab-whistle and toot once for a four-wheeler or twice for a hansom.
Check out this video dated 1896 showing various forms of London transportation crossing Blackfriars Bridge—including jaunty hansom cabs!
