Driving club

In fact, these were variants of a rhyme that had followed Onslow from his days as a "whip" long before the founding of the Four-In-Hand Club, where he had driven a phaeton.

In Athenaeum one correspondent reported that the verse had been popular in Onslow's younger days, in Surrey, at the start of the 19th century:[12] What can little T. O. do?

The (friendly) rival Four Horse Club was founded the year after the BDC, in April 1808, but did not last as long.

The club rules dictated that a barouche should have silver mounted harnesses, rosettes at their heads, yellow bodies, "dickies", and bay horses.

Club members Sir Henry Peyton and Mr Annesley drove roan horses.

They required a drab coat that reached down to one's ankles, decorated with large mother-of-pearl buttons, and three tiers of pockets; a blue waistcoat with inch-wide yellow stripes; knee-length breeches with strings and rosettes, made of plush; and a hat that was at least 3.5 inch deep in the crown.

[4] The Club regularly drove as a group to Salt Hill, where they spent a convivial evening and the night, before driving back to London.

"[3][6] The modified rules called for a brown landaulet carriage, without ornaments; no restrictions upon horse colour; and brass mounted harnesses.

It used to meet at Lord Chesterfield's house, and drive, in procession, to dinner at the Castle Hotel in Richmond.

It was satirized by Robert Smith Surtees:[15] Following his track succeeds a numerous band, Who vainly drive to work their fours-in-hand.

Ricardo then can driving feats relate, And Batthyany swear he'd clear the gate; Till midnight closes o'er the festive scene, Then who so bold as ride with Angerstein?

He who aloft can mark with unmoved nerve The wheelers jibbing while the leaders swerve, And sit, al careless, 'mid the wordy war To lose a pinch-pin, break a splinter-bar.

Angerstein, so excited that someone had actually chosen to ride with him, set off immediately, without waiting for the rest of the procession, and so suddenly that his passenger was thrown head-over-heels.

[citation needed] A 2002 estimate by the USTA was that there were over 500 members of the various registered driving clubs in the United States.