Carriages of all kinds, for the conveyance of parties, may be hired at the various livery-stables, with which the metropolis abounds at the following prices - A barouche, or coach, at 1l 5s. per day; post-chaise, or chariot, from 1l. to 25s. per day, with a gratuity (always expected) of 5s. to the driver; cabriolets, dennets and tilburies, with horse, at from 18s. to 20s,. per day; saddle horses, at from 10s. to 15s. per day; any of which, however, if engaged for a longer period, may be obtained at a less price.

Mogg's New Picture of London and Visitor's Guide to it Sights, 1844

[ ... back to main menu for this book]

Horses and Carriages. Readers of the DICTIONARY may possibly find themselves in the position of wanting to hire horses, harness, &c. This is a matter as to which it is most difficult to advise. Prices vary so greatly during the few months of the season and the rest of the year, and in various quarters of the town, that this is emphatically a business in which “circumstances alter cases.” But it may roughly be said that at the best West-end houses a one-horse carriage (Victoria or brougham) will cost about 30 guineas a month; a two-horse carriage, such as a landau, about 45 guineas a month. These prices, of course, include horses, carriage, harness, coachman, stabling and forage. Horses alone, during the same months, may be hired at about 7 ½  guineas each a month, including forage and stabling; but in this case harness will be an extra charge, and the coachman’s wages will have to be paid. In ordinary jobbing work a one-horse brougham during the day-time costs about 7s. 6d. for two hours’ hiring; theatre and ball work cost from 10s. 6d. to 27s. 6d., according to circumstances and locality. For excursions a one-horse brougham, as a rule, will cost £1 1s. ; a two-horse carriage £1 10s.;  but for what the job-masters call a “long day” these charges would be increased about 20 per cent. It should be borne in mind that unless the carriage be jobbed for a lengthened period the coachman invariably expects a gratuity. The above prices, be it noted, refer to the best West-end establishments. In every district in town there are job-masters who will supply horses and carriages on considerably easier terms. As these vary so much with situation and circumstance, it is impossible to give even an approximate list of charges—(See RIDING SCHOOLS.)

Charles Dickens (Jr.), Dickens's Dictionary of London, 1879