Coach (carriage)

A coach is a large, closed, four-wheeled, passenger-carrying vehicle or carriage usually drawn by two or more horses controlled by a coachman, a postilion, or both.

The chassis was made from oak beams and the barrel shaped roof was covered in brightly painted leather or cloth.

[1] Kocs was the Hungarian post town in the 15th century onwards, which gave its name to a fast light vehicle, which later spread across Europe.

An advertisement in the Edinburgh Courant for 1754 reads: The Edinburgh stage-coach, for the better accommodation of passengers, will be altered to a new genteel two-end glass coach-machine, hung on steel springs, exceedingly light and easy...Strap suspensions persisted, however; the 19th century American Concord coaches used leather straps exactly as the first Berline from 1660 did.

There are a number of coach types, including but not limited to: Coach-building had reached a high degree of specialization in Britain by the middle of the 19th century.

Making the iron axels, springs and other metal used was the work of the “coach-smith,” one of the most highly paid classes of workmen in London.

[4]: 677  Lining the interior of the coach with leather and painting, trimming, and decorating the exterior required the work of specialist tradesmen.

The business of a coachman, like the pilot of an aircraft, was to expertly direct and take all responsibility for a coach or carriage and its horses, their stabling, feeding and maintenance and the associated staff.

If he drove dangerously fast or recklessly he was a jehu (from Jehu, king of Israel, who was noted for his furious attacks in a chariot (2 Kings 9:20), or a Phaeton (from Greek Phaethon, son of Helios, who attempted to drive the chariot of the sun but managed to set the earth on fire).

They used the whip to flick the ear of the leader to give them the office to move on, or cracked it next to their heads to request increased speed.