The great snow-storm of Christmas, 1836, was long remembered as one of the most severe on record, and Mr. Nobbs’ coach was only one of many that had to be abandoned owing to the depth of the snow-drifts. All over England, and in Scotland as well, most of the roads were rendered impassable. Some coaches, after proceeding for miles on their journey, were forced to return; thus the Brighton Mail from London had to put back after getting as far as Crawley, and the Dover Mail got no further than Gravesend. Other coaches were upset, and some were completely lost, having been abandoned, and afterwards buried in the snow-wreaths. Near Chatham the snow lay to a depth of 30 or 40 feet, and on some of the roads in the Midlands, after cuttings had been made, the snow was banked to the height of 50 feet. A full account of this and other memorable snowstorms will be found in Mr. Wilson Hyde’s most interesting book, “The Royal Mail.”

History repeats itself, and more than fifty years after that 1836 storm we again find Mail Coaches blocked by the snow on the Brighton road. The severe snow-storm of the 9th and 10th of March last taxed the resources of the Post Office in the South and West of England to the utmost. For several days Plymouth was virtually without any service of Mails, and one after another came an apparently endless series of telegrams to headquarters in London, bearing dismal tidings of trains buried in mammoth drifts, cuttings blocked with snow, and portentous “accumulations” of parcel receptacles at places quite unprepared to bear so large a share of the Post Office burden. The trials and triumphs of that stirring time have, however, already found a capable chronicler—as readers of the St. Martin’s-le-Grand Magazine will shortly discover. All we would refer to here is the fact that the up and down Brighton Parcel Coaches were both blocked by snow at Handcross Hill, about four miles from Crawley—one at the top of the hill and the other at the bottom. The resources of civilisation in 1891, however, afforded a means of overcoming the difficulty which was not open to our fathers and grand-fathers in 1836. An experienced officer (Mr. W. Roberts) went down from London by train and superintended the digging out of the coaches. This done, he had both vehicles taken to Crawley, where the parcel baskets were transferred to the railway. In 1836 those parcels would probably not have reached their destination under a week or ten days.

BRIDGE DISASTER TO COACH.

Mr. Nobbs’ graphic account of the Lugg Bridge accident recalls the more calamitous one which befell the Glasgow and Carlisle coach on the 25th October, 1801. The circumstances were alike in both cases, but the results of the earlier disaster were much more grave. The bridge was one spanning the river Evan, between Elvanfoot and Beattock; it had collapsed under stress of a flood following a sudden thaw, and at about ten o’clock at night the coach plunged into the rocky bed of the stream. Two outside passengers were killed on the spot, and the coachman sustained such injuries that he died some days afterwards. The inside passengers, a lady and three gentlemen, and the guard, escaped with injuries more or less severe. Three of the horses were killed, and the coach was smashed to pieces.

ROBBERY OF MAILS.

If Mr. Nobbs had been on the road some twenty or thirty years earlier he might have acquired a larger experience of the manners and customs of highwaymen—or perhaps we should say mail robbers,—for the picturesque highwayman of romance is conspicuously absent from Post Office annals. In this connexion it may be interesting to give the text of two or three Post Office Notices issued early in the century. This one is typical of many others circulated about the same time:—

General Post Office,
Tuesday, 27th October, 1812.

About 7 o’clock on the Evening of Monday the 26th instant, the LEEDS Mail-Coach was robbed of the Bags of Letters for London, described at Foot, between Kettering and Higham Ferrers, and within 3 Miles of Higham Ferrers, by forcing the Lock of the Mail Box.

The Bags stolen are,

Whoever shall apprehend the Person or Persons who committed the said Robbery, will be entitled to a Reward of

TWO HUNDRED POUNDS,

one Moiety to be paid on Commitment for Trial, and the other Moiety on Conviction. If an Accomplice in the Robbery will surrender himself and make Discovery, whereby one or more of the Persons concerned therein shall be apprehended and brought to Justice, such Discoverer will be entitled to the said Reward, and be admitted an Evidence for the Crown.

By Command of the Postmaster-General,
F. FREELING,
Secretary.

Four months later we have a minute description of the “knight of the road” who was supposed to have committed the robbery:—

General Post Office,
February 9th, 1813.

200 POUNDS REWARD.

Whereas

HUFFEY WHITE is strongly suspected to have been concerned in the Robbery of the Leeds Mail, between Kettering and Higham Ferrers, on Monday Evening, the 26th of October last: whoever shall apprehend, or cause him to be apprehended, will be paid a Reward of ONE HUNDRED POUNDS upon his Commitment for Trial, and the further Reward of ONE HUNDRED POUNDS upon his Conviction.

By Command of the Postmaster-General,
FRANCIS FREELING,
Secretary.The said HUFFEY WHITE, is a Native of London, by Trade a Cabinet Maker, about 35 or 36 Years of Age, of good Appearance, 5 Feet 8 or 9 Inches high, stoutish made, and stands very upright, has thin Legs, brown Hair, broad or full Forehead, Pale Complexion, light grey Eyes, and little Eyebrows, is marked with the Small-Pox in large Pits deep in the Skin, and at some distance from each other; his Nose turns up. He has a Squeaking Voice, is mild in manners, and does not talk much. He is well known at all the Police Offices.

He had formerly served some Years on Board the Hulks, and returned about 10 Years since.

About four Years ago he was capitally convicted at the Old Bailey, and ordered to be transported for Life, but afterwards made his Escape.

About twelve Months after this Conviction he was apprehended at Stockport, and tried and convicted at Chester Assizes for his Escape, and sent back to the Hulks, but again escaped.

He afterwards robbed the Paisley Union Bank, and immediately proceeded to London by way of Edinburgh, in Post Chaises; and in two or three Days after his arrival, was apprehended in Surrey, and tried and convicted at Kingston Lent Assizes, 1811, for being at large, and was sent to the Hulks.

From thence he again escaped, and has since been in the Counties of Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Northampton, passing by the Name of WALLIS, until the Robbery of the Leeds Mail the 26th of October last.

It is not known where he has been since, except that he was at the Bull’s Head, in Bread Street, for two or three Days immediately afterwards, and then went to Bath. He slept at the Swan Inn in Birmingham on Sunday the 24th of January last, and proceeded the next Day in Company with Robert Brady, otherwise called Oxford Bob, in the Shrewsbury Mail to Wolverhampton, where Brady was apprehended, and White took the opportunity to quit the Coach.

March 29th, 1813.

Huffey White was at Bristol in the last Week, and escaped from thence on Saturday the 27th instant about Noon, in company with one Richard Haywood.

White was dressed in a Blue under Coat, with gilt Buttons, White Waistcoat, Blue Pantaloons, and a Yellow Belcher Handkerchief about his Neck.Haywood was dressed in a Light Loose Great Coat (had no Hat) and a Yellow Belcher Handkerchief. He is about 35 or 36 Years of Age, 5 Feet 10 Inches high, Stout made, and is pitted with the Small Pox.

Two of their Companions, Birkett and John Goodman, were secured, in whose possession there was found every apparatus for opening Locks and forcing Doors.

That is decidedly disappointing. The name is very unromantic, to begin with, and the description does not suggest a person of unusually prepossessing appearance. We miss, too, the gold lace and ruffles, the cocked hat, and—most important of all—the mysterious mask with which we were wont to adorn the dashing highwayman of our youthful fancies. There is no horse either. Fancy Dick Turpin without Black Bess! It will strike everyone, however, that for a gentleman who presumably was not desirous of attracting too much attention, “Huffey White’s” attire was somewhat “loud.”Talking of horses, we may give a notice, nine years later in date, which shows how the Claude Duvals of the period provided themselves with steeds.

Post Office, York,
Monday Evening, 11th March, 1822.

50 POUNDS REWARD.

Whereas

The POST BOY conveying the MAIL from WHITBY to MALTON, was, about Three o’Clock this Afternoon, stopt on the Road, about Fourteen Miles from WHITBY, by a Man, who pulled the Rider from his Horse, and mounted it himself, and immediately rode off across the Moor towards Lockton, with the Mail Bags for London, York, and other Places.

Whoever shall apprehend the Person who has committed this FELONY, will be entitled to the above Reward. Twenty Pounds, Part thereof, payable on his Commitment for Trial, and the remaining Thirty Pounds upon his Conviction.

The highwayman’s lot in those days, like the policeman’s in ours, was not altogether “a happy one.” If caught—as he generally was in the long run—he was granted very short shrift. In fact there are instances recorded in which, the robbery, capture, examination by magistrate, trial, sentence, and execution were all comprised in the space of one week. There was nothing “leaden-footed” about that justice.

MAIL COACHMEN AND MAIL GUARDS.

Mr. Nobbs’ reference to the skill of the present Duke of Beaufort’s father as a “whip,” a skill which seems to be hereditary in that family, reminds us of the fact that the same nobleman, while Marquess of Worcester, habitually drove the “Beaufort” coach on the Brighton Road. The “Age” coach, on the same road, was driven by Sir Vincent Cotton, and the Hon. Fred. Jerningham acted as coachman to the Brighton day mail. It would appear, therefore, that in the days when stage coaching was a serious business, aristocratic amateurs of four-in-hand driving were as much in evidence as they are now. Many of them were, of course, unknown to their passengers, and the historians of the old coaching days allege that they were in the habit of pocketing their tips in a matter-of-course manner which would have done credit to the oldest regular coachman on the road.

But it was the guard who was the person of greatest importance on a Mail Coach, and he was generally fully conscious of his own dignity, and inclined to “stand upon” it on the slightest provocation. It was necessary, however, that the guards should be men of strict probity, as they were often entrusted with commissions of great consequence, such as the conveyance of large sums of money for bankers, &c. Moreover, they were principally dependent for their income upon fees received from the public, and in some cases, it is said, those fees amounted to as much as 300l. a year. It is obvious that this system was one that opened a door to corruption and abuse had the guards been unscrupulous men. The payment made to them by the Post Office was but half a guinea, a week—a sort of retaining fee—or just sufficient, with the uniform, to mark them as servants of the Department. Thus, when the Post Office guards began to be employed on the railways, the Postmaster-General had to apply to the Treasury for authority to pay them in salaries, “inasmuch as it was clear that they would have no chance of obtaining fees.” Some time afterwards the Postmaster-General made a second application to the Treasury, stating “that on certain lines of road, owing to the competition of the railways (with the coaches), the number of passengers by coaches was greatly reduced, and that, consequently, the guards had lost many of their fees.” Thereupon the Treasury granted permission to pay the guards employed on coaches, in certain cases, at the same rate as the Post Office guards on the railways.

The Stage Coach system was already in its decline when Mr. Nobbs took up duty in 1836. In 1837—the year of Her Majesty’s Accession—52 Mail Guards were appointed; in 1840, 19; in 1843, only 1. The total number of Mail Guards in the United Kingdom in 1841 was 365; in 1843 it had fallen to 327.

It has been pointed out by a recent writer that the Mail Bag Apparatus now in use on the railways had its prototype in the days of the stage coaches, when the Mail bags were held out on the end of a stick to be clutched by the guard as the coach hurried past. Many of these exchanges were, of course, made in the night, and a former officer of the Surveying Staff in the North of Scotland vouches for the truth of the following anecdote. At one of the offices in Caithness—Dunbeath, he believes—the coach used to pass very early in the morning, and the Sub-Postmaster was in the habit of keeping the bags ready for despatch in his bedroom. The blowing of the horn warned him of the approach of the coach, and the guard used to come and receive the bags out of the bedroom window. Once, on a dark rainy night, the guard was handed what he supposed to be the Mail bags, and the coach proceeded some little distance on its way, when, to his disgust, the guard discovered that instead of Mail bags he was carrying off a portion of the Sub-Postmaster’s apparel. The coach was turned back, and once more, to his astonishment, the sleepy Sub-Postmaster heard the tootle of the horn and hastened to the window to inquire what might be the matter. “Hey, mon!” shouted the guard, “gie’s the bags an’ tak’ in yer breeks!” Needless to say the incident afforded the passengers much amusement.In taking leave of the last of the old Mail Coach Guards we may quote from a recent issue of the Daily Telegraph the following paragraph relative to one who was perhaps the oldest surviving stage coachman:—

“One of the olden time has passed away in William Clements of Canterbury, who, before the present century had reached its twenties, drove the famous ‘Tally-ho’ Coach which plied between the Cathedral City and Gracechurch Street. More than once he had to run the gauntlet of robbers and highwaymen, of whom, however, he had a decidedly low opinion. Railways killed his Coach. Clements reluctantly admitted the superiority of the iron horse to his own teams, although he never relinquished the idea that England’s degeneracy commenced when the ‘Tally-ho’ and other coaches were vanquished by ‘Puffing Billy.’ He died in his ninety-first year, and perhaps is entitled to be called the ‘Last of the Whips.’”

Mr. Clements was not, however, the “Last of the Whips.” While these sheets were passing through the press we had the pleasure of an interview with another veteran, Mr. Harry Ward, of whom mention is made on page 35. Mr. Ward states that he is 78 years of age, though, judging by his hale and active appearance, one would pronounce him to be ten years younger. He drove the London and Glasgow Mail so far back as the year 1833, at which time he was the youngest coachman on the road. Mr. Ward assures us that in all his fifty years’ experience he never had an accident to his coach. To the remark that this must surely be a unique record, he replied, with pardonable pride, that he was reckoned “the champion coachman” of his time. Such was his fame, indeed, that after the London and Exeter Coach had twice met with serious mishaps, some of the leading inhabitants of Devon and Cornwall sent a strongly worded memorial to the authorities, asking that Harry Ward might be placed on the box; and he was transferred accordingly. Mr. Ward, whose memory is wonderfully clear, has a distinct recollection of the great snow-storm of 1836, when his coach was one of several that were snowed up on Salisbury Plain. He, too, knew the members of the Beaufort family well; indeed it was he who taught the present scions of that house the “art and mystery” of four-in-hand driving. We are glad to be able to add that Mr. Ward is in good health, and still quite capable of managing a team.

Decorative graphic

Eyre and Spottiswoode, East Harding Street, E.C.