Hansom cab

It replaced the hackney carriage as a vehicle for hire; with the introduction of clockwork mechanical taximeters to measure fares, the name became taxicab.

Hansom cabs enjoyed immense popularity as they were fast, light enough to be pulled by a single horse (making the journey cheaper than travelling in a larger four-wheel coach) and were agile enough to steer around horse-drawn vehicles in the notorious traffic jams of nineteenth-century London.

Additionally, a curved fender mounted forward of the doors protected passengers from the stones thrown up by the hooves of the horse.

Its main features were low-slung bodywork, high wheels and a rearward driving seat — the latter not at first evident.

The purpose of its design was to combine speed with safety, having a low centre of gravity, essential for safe cornering and overtaking.

[7] A restored hansom cab once owned by Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt is on display at the Remington Carriage Museum[8] in Cardston, Alberta, Canada.

There is another surviving example, owned and operated by the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London; in common with other horse-drawn vehicles it is not permitted to enter any of the Royal Parks.