Omnibuses and cabs. Henry Charles Moore
either side occupied. If he happened to be a stout party, the burning question was on which side ought he to sit. The matter was generally settled by the new-comer flopping down on some one's lap. Then a quarrel would ensue. As late as 1882 an omnibus with a seat in front of the fareboard was running from Oxford Circus to Henden, viâ Kilburn. It was a most uncomfortable seat, but, nevertheless, it was nearly always occupied, for the conductor, being a very amusing fellow, had a knack of quickly soothing passengers who protested against sitting on a small, cramped seat.
Soon after the removal of the bookcases, some of the Hammersmith omnibuses acquired the habit of loitering, and thereby obstructing the streets. By Act of Parliament, the police had the power to take into custody the driver of any public vehicle who obstructed the high road and refused to move on. One morning they exercised their power by pulling two omnibus-drivers from their boxes and taking them to the police-station. The following day the drivers were fined forty shillings or a month's imprisonment. For a few days there was no loitering on the Hammersmith Road. But one Saturday evening an omnibus pulled up at Knightsbridge in such a position as to obstruct the traffic. A policeman shouted fiercely to the driver to move on, but the coachman calmly shook his head and would not budge an inch. Two policemen promptly rushed forward to pull him from his seat and take him into custody, but, to their astonishment, found that he was chained to the box and the chain fastened by a huge padlock. Their attempts to remove him were useless. Then several other omnibuses came along, and pulled up close to the first one. The drivers of these were also chained to their boxes, and amused themselves and the crowd by chaffing the police and shaking their chains at them. After remaining at Knightsbridge for some considerable time, they drove away in triumph, only, however, to be fined a few days later.
About this time shopkeepers began to complain that omnibuses prevented their customers driving up to their doors in their carriages, and Mr. Shufflebotham, a silk mercer of Ludgate Hill, championing their cause, applied for summonses against twenty-four conductors for loitering. Under an old Act of Parliament, any stage-coach driver taking up or setting down passengers in the streets was liable to a penalty of not less than £5. All the conductors were fined, but public opinion was by no means favourable to the shopkeepers, and further attempts to prove that private carriages had a greater right to the public streets than omnibuses failed completely. On one occasion an alderman had before him a hundred and twenty conductors charged with fearful offence—in tradesmen's eyes—of stopping their omnibuses a few moments in front of a shop when a carriage was waiting to pull up there. The alderman discharged every one of the defendants, and his action was so popular that, until a year or two ago, no one had the impudence to suggest that the days of class legislation should be restored—that omnibuses which carry twenty-six passengers should be turned out of the main street to make room for private carriages with their burden of four.
On January 7, 1832, a new Stage-Coach Act came into force. It had been passed specially to permit omnibuses and short-stage-coaches to take up and set down passengers in the streets.
Chapter III
Chapter III
Shillibeer runs omnibuses in opposition to a railway—Extraordinary action of the Stamp and Taxes Office—Shillibeer is ruined—He appeals to the Government for compensation—Government promises not fulfilled—Shillibeer becomes an undertaker
Shortly after dissolving partnership with Morton, Shillibeer relinquished his metropolitan business and began to run omnibuses from London to Greenwich and Woolwich, placing twenty vehicles on the road. It was a very bold step, considering that a railway from London to Greenwich had been decided upon; but there were many people who believed that the railway was doomed by his action. In fact, the following song, entitled "Shillibeer's Original Omnibus versus the Greenwich Railroad," which expressed that opinion, was sold extensively in the streets.
"By a Joint-Stock Company taken in hand,
A railroad from London to Greenwich is plann'd.
But they're sure to be beat, 'tis most certainly clear,
Their rival has got the start—George Shillibeer.
"I will not for certainty vouch for the fact,
But believe that he means to run over the Act
Which Parliament pass'd at the end of last year,
Now made null and void by the new Shillibeer.
"His elegant omnis, which now throng the road,
Up and down every hour most constantly load;
Across all three bridges how gaily appear,
The Original Omnibus—George Shillibeer. "These pleasure and comfort with safety combine, They will neither blow up nor explode like a mine; Those who ride on the rail-road might half die with fear— You can come to no harm in the safe Shillibeer. "How exceedingly elegant fitted, inside, With mahogany polished—soft cushions—beside Bright brass ventilators at each end appear, The latest improvements in the new Shillibeer. "Here no draughts of air cause a crick in the neck, Or huge bursting boiler blows all to a wreck, But as safe as at home you from all danger steer, While you travel abroad in the gay Shillibeer. "Then of the interior I safely may say There never was yet any carriage more gay, While the round-tire wheels make it plainly appear That there's none run so light as the smart Shillibeer. "His conductors are famous for being polite, Obliging and civil, they always act right, For if just complaint only comes to his ear, They are not long conductors for George Shillibeer. "It was meant that they all should wear dresses alike, But bad luck has prompted the tailors to strike. When they go to their work, his men will appear À la Française, Conducteur à Mons. Shillibeer.
"Unlike the conductors by tailors opprest,
His horses have all in harness been drest;
The cattle are good, the men's orders are clear,
Not to gallop or race—so says Shillibeer.
"That the beauties of Greenwich and Deptford may ride
In his elegant omni is the height of his pride—
So the plan for a railroad must soon disappear
While the public approve of the new Shillibeer."
But, unfortunately for Shillibeer, the plan for the Greenwich railway did not disappear. It was carried out, and when, in 1835, the railway was opened, the earnings of Shillibeer's omnibuses began to decrease ominously. For a time Shillibeer struggled on manfully, but the fight with the railway was an expensive one, and getting into arrears with his payments to the Stamp and Taxes Office, his omnibuses were seized and not permitted to be worked until the money was paid. This unreasonable action on the part of the Stamp Office was repeated three or four times, and the heavy expenses and hindrance to business caused thereby brought about Shillibeer's failure.
Acting on the advice of his many sympathisers, Shillibeer appealed, in 1838, to the Lords of the Treasury for compensation for the injustice done to him, with the result that, shortly after, he was offered the position of Assistant Registrar of Licenses, created by the Bill just passed for the better regulation of omnibuses in and near the Metropolis. This Act, the second one dealing with omnibuses, made it compulsory that the words "Metropolitan Stage Carriage," the Stamp Office number, and the number of passengers that each vehicle was licensed to carry should be painted in a conspicuous manner, both on the inside and outside of every omnibus. Drivers and conductors were compelled to wear numbered badges, so as to afford means of identification in case of misconduct. Licenses were not to be transferred or lent under a penalty of £5, and the omnibus proprietors were forbidden, under a penalty of £10, to allow any unlicensed person to act as driver or conductor, except in the case of sudden illness of the licensed man.
Shillibeer