In one of the remotest of the Fejee Islands some Wesleyan missionaries,
in the year 1851, landed a pair of horses. We read general excitement
prevailed at the towns near, and a great muster gathered on the beach at
the day of landing. It was long before the native mind got reconciled to
the phenomenon. The people, we are told, were terrified if approached by
a horse. They would jump into the river, run up cocoa-nut and other
trees, and climb houses for safety while the animal passed their place.
In England this stage of terror has long been passed, and horses
themselves are gradually giving place to steam.
Nevertheless, for short traffic--for transit to places where the snort of
the steam engine will never be heard--for crooked ways inimical to
machinery--for the convenience of those who like to be taken up and set
down at their own doors--for the comfort of the nervous, whose firm
belief is, that for the regular railway traveller a fatal smash is only a
question of time, the London omnibus is a permanent institution. It is
difficult to perceive how people managed before it had an existence--when
the fare from Highbury to the Bank was a shilling, and when the traveller
for the journey from Highgate to London, along the dreary wastes of
Holloway, paid no less than half-a-crown, and when even for that
exorbitant sum, as it would now be deemed, you had no chance of a trip
unless you had booked your place. In those times happy--yea, thrice
happy--were the fathers of families living beyond the sound of Bow bells.
In these, how can a man help going to the bad, rise he ever so early, or
sit he up ever so late, eat he ever so of the bread of carefulness, if
mamma and daughters can ride from the furthest suburbs--from remote
Peckham or airy Paddington--for the ridiculously small sum of sixpence,
or even less, in a vehicle as luxuriously fitted up as a private
carriage, to the shops so tempting to the female mind of the fashionable
and dissipated West? Happily the evil is tending to cure itself. The
ladies have acquired a mode of dressing which simply renders, in the
majority of cases, the use of an omnibus an impossibility.
The date of the London omnibus is not ancient. Mr. Shillibeer, in his
evidence before the Board of Health, stated that on July 7th, 1829, he
started the first pair of omnibuses in the metropolis, from the Bank to
the Yorkshire Stingo, New-road, copied from Paris, where omnibuses had
been established in 1819, by M. Lafitte, the banker. Each omnibus was
drawn by three horses abreast, had no outside passengers, and carried
twenty-two inside. Now the same distance is traversed by omnibuses
carrying twenty-four passengers--twelve inside and twelve out--and drawn
by two horses, for sixpence. At one time the passengers were provided
with periodicals--a custom that would be quite superfluous when for a
penny the traveller can get all the day's news. Shillibeer's first
conductors were two sons of British naval officers, who were succeeded by
young men in velvet liveries. Shillibeer met with the usual fate of
those who labour for the public, and was ruined; but the system he
introduced has expanded with the growth of London, and has reached a
gigantic extent. One company alone--the General Omnibus Company--a
company which has effected a thorough reform in the omnibus service, and
deserves the thanks of the public, had, in the first half year of the
year 1858, 602 omnibuses running, travelling in the half-year 5,815,036
miles, and carrying 16,800,000 passengers, and pays Government a duty of
4,000 pounds a month. As their yard in Highbury is the largest of the
kind, let me conduct the reader thither.
On the main Islington road, not far from Highbury-corner, just opposite
Union Chapel, there is a stable-yard, at the entrance of which there are
generally two or three 'buses changing horses; a board over it denotes
that it is the stabling of the London General Omnibus Company. If we go
up that yard we shall find that we are in a vast square, occupying nearly
twenty acres of ground, and running as far back as the Liverpool-road.
To the right of us are enormous stables, each stable containing forty
horses, all comfortably bedded down in straw, resting after their
labours, and recruiting their strength for fresh ones. The horses do not
work too hard, not more than three hours out of the twenty-four, and
consume daily 18 lbs. of corn and 10 lbs. of chaff. To each
omnibus--with the exception of the few drawn by three horses, which have
a dozen--there are ten horses attached--which are never changed--which
are all numbered, and the fullest particulars of which are entered in a
book kept by the active and intelligent foreman of the yard. There is a
horse-keeper to each set, who knows the times of his omnibus, and acts
accordingly. In the middle of the yard is an immense shed, under which
the omnibuses are drawn at night and washed and cleaned for the next day.
This washing is done very easily. An enormous tank, holding 27,000
gallons of water, supplies several tubs, against which each omnibus is
placed. There is a watchman, who comes on at nine at night and receives
the omnibuses as they come in, and ranges them in the order in which, on
the following morning, they will commence their respective exits. At
half-past seven the first omnibus leaves the yard; the next follows eight
minutes afterwards, and so on all the rest of the day. The omnibuses
that commence early, finish their day's work about nine. Those who go on
duty later wait and bring home the pleasure-seekers returning from the
theatres and exhibitions, and other places of public resort. For the
accommodation of these latter classes extra omnibuses are required. Some
of the omnibuses, we must add, work early and late; but then they have a
good rest in the middle of the day. It is a hard life, that of an
omnibus--citizens are apt to get fat, and stones are very trying. At a
considerable expense, every 'bus must be done up and repainted and
revarnished every two years. The original cost of each 'bus is about 120
pounds. They are all built in the yard, of iron and good oak and ash.
In one part of the premises there is a steam-engine at work, sawing wood
and turning machinery. In another part there are 'buses in all stages of
development--here a frame, there a complete body, and there one with
wheels waiting for the varnish, and paint and velvet cushions and plate
glass, which shall make it differ from what it now is, as does Sappho
"At her toilette's greasy task,
With Sappho fragrant at an evening mask."
But let us return to the horses. We have spoken of those in good health
and in active work. Some of them are really capital cattle; and I was
shown a pair of chestnuts worth at least a hundred pounds. We will now
proceed to the infirmary, just premising that in so enormous a yard every
precaution is taken against disease. A man is constantly at work
whitewashing the stables. This takes him four months, and by the time he
has done he has to commence anew. The infirmary consists of a series of
roomy, brick stables, very warm and snug, where the dumb animals are
treated more tenderly than many Christians. In another part there is a
large inclosure, more than half covered, but open on one side for the
recovery of the horses, who, having nothing particularly the matter with
them, but who have lived too fast or worked too much, require a month or
two of rest. The aged and the incurable are drafted off and sent to the
repository, and sold for a few pounds. Let me add, even these horses
continue their philanthropic career. No longer engaged in conveying the
verdant youth of the metropolis to business or pleasure, they drag greens
from door to door. The shoeing forge is close by. The physicking and
shoeing is taken by contract, by one man. He must have enough to do, as
in this yard and the one close by are generally a thousand horses. The
food, prepared by steam, is ground at the depot in Bell-lane.
Now for a word about the men. There are about three hundred in the
Highbury yard. The coachmen have six shillings, the conductors four
shillings a day, and are paid daily. The horse-keepers have a guinea a
week. The artisans employed in the carriage department earn from thirty
to fifty shillings a week. There are two sick clubs, one for the
coachmen and conductors, who pay sixpence a week, and receive when ill
fourteen shillings a week--and one for the horse-keepers, who pay
threepence a week, and receive when on the sick list ten shillings
weekly. On Sunday evening Divine Service is held in the harness-room,
fitted up for that purpose. This was commenced by Sir Horace St. Paul.
Once a year a grand tea-meeting is held, at which all the servants of the
company, with their wives and families, are present, and addresses are
delivered by Sir Horace St. Paul, Mr. Hanbury, M.P., and other
philanthropists; and for those who wish to improve a leisure hour, a
small reading-room is opened, access to which may be had on the payment
of a penny weekly. On the table are some newspapers and illustrated
periodicals, and thus not only is a little mental stimulus provided, but
the men are not driven to spend their money in a public-house. This is a
feature of the yard which cannot be too highly commended, and which I am
sure if it were known the general public would be happy to support. The
men are satisfied, I think. One of them I had known in better days
seemed glad to have secured a berth as a driver. One informed me that he
had 100 pounds, which he had told his Missus to draw out of the savings
bank and place in the custody of the Royal British; but his Missus was
obstinate, and her obstinacy saved the cash. Some of the men are
teetotallers, and those who wish to attend church or chapel on the Sunday
can do so. It is an advantage in a great company that it cannot resort
to the little meanness and persecution of which a single proprietor may
be guilty. The latter may underpay his servants, keep them at work all
day, or take every advantage of them in every possible way. But if a
great company does this, the public cries shame. But we must be off.
Once more we find ourselves in the road; a 'bus comes up--we climb the
roof--we have seen baronets and M.P.'s get inside; an opposition 'bus is
behind; "All right!" cries the conductor. Merrily we rush on, exclaiming
mentally--
"Ore favete omnes et tempora cingite ramis."
As a contrast, let me quote the following from Miss Meteyard's essay on
the history and present condition of the Metropolitan omnibus drivers and
conductors, published in Cassell's "Working Man's Friend and Family
Instructor," in 1850. Our readers will see that in the last few years a
great and desirable change has been made. Miss Meteyard says:--"As we
have said, 11,000 individuals are connected with the omnibus labour of
the metropolis. Of these, 6,000 are drivers and conductors, who work on
an average rather more than sixteen hours a day; namely, from before
eight o'clock in the morning till after twelve o'clock at night. The
labour connected with railway omnibuses is still severer than this, being
twenty hours each third day, and fourteen on alternate ones. Nor does
the seventh day bring rest, as in most laborious occupations; work goes
on in precisely the same manner; and, as on some lines of road, the
traffic is greater on Sundays than on other days, the work is so far
heavier. During the number of hours the men are employed they _have no
rest_. The driver never leaves his box, except during a few occasional
minutes whilst his horses are changed; and he has, therefore, to take his
meals during these periods, and usually upon the coach-box, as, where the
men have wives and families, some member of them may be often seen
handing up the tea or dinner in a can or basket. As the married portion
of these men universally say, they 'never see their children except as
they may look at them in bed;' and as for home, in its commonly-received
sense, or of any of the moral duties connected with it, the one is
unknown, and the other is impossible. The case of the conductors is
precisely the same, neither having a day's rest for months together, for
if they take one they have to pay a substitute; and in many cases the
proprietors object to a day's relaxation, and will not hire men who need
or may ask for it, such being against the laws of their particular
association. For a loss of time they are fined 2s. 6d., and for a second
or third offence, suspended from a week's employment, or else dismissed.
Against stringent rules of this kind we should take no objection, were
the hours of labour in any degree of reasonable length; in that case,
stringency would be doubly effective, both as regarded the interest of
the proprietary and public convenience."
"Looking at this preposterous amount of daily labour, and the evils
which, directly and indirectly, must flow therefrom, in relation to
pauperism, crime, and a low average of life, we should expect to find
omnibus labour highly remunerated. Yet such is not the case. On some
roads the drivers receive no more than from twelve to fifteen shillings
for the work of seven days; and out of this they are compelled by their
employers to pay six shillings weekly as beer-money to horse-keepers and
stable-keepers. Of course, with wages at so low a par, and so much
reduced by outgoings, men would scarcely be found willing to undertake
this week's work of a hundred and twelve hours, unless each driver were
allowed, as is the case, the privilege of an outside passenger, on the
box beside him, each distance he drives, whether the fare be sixpence or
threepence. Each driver drives ten or twelve distances per day, each
distance to and fro being about six miles; and thus, in fine weather,
when the generality of male passengers prefer the outside, and the
coach-box is sure of an occupant, the driver's perquisites may mount up
to a fair weekly sum. But in wet and bad weather the case is very
different, and these men drive the whole day through without a single
passenger. This may possibly account for the variable temper of
omnibus-drivers, who, reversing the ordinary process of things, are surly
in fine, and courteous in wet weather, and, caring nothing for patronage
whilst the sun shines, grow civil in times of frost and rain, and
proffer, with parental solicitude, cape, wrapper, and apron.
"Though acting in a more responsible capacity, the conductors, unlike the
drivers, are only daily servants, and liable, and often subject to,
dismissal, at a moment's notice. Men once thus dismissed are rarely
employed as conductors again, it being a rule with these combined
proprietors never to employ a man in this capacity who has acted as
conductor in any previous situation."