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Travelling in the 1800s

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  • Travelling in the 1800s

    My theatrical and musical relatives travelled around from theatre to theatre, and obviously could not jump on the next bus or train. They may also have been travelling with costumes and bulky musical instruments.
    I'm wondering about the practicalities - how can I find out for example, how they are likely to have travelled from Wakefield to London or from London to Edinburgh and how long would such journeys have lasted? (I have visions in my head of stagecoaches but not sure if I'm thinking of right era?)

    Thanks

    JANE

  • #2
    From about the mid-1840's they probably would have used trains, or trains in combination with other methods where they were not yet available. By the late 1850's you could get almost anywhere in the UK by train!

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    • #3
      From: Projects - Road History

      By 1830 there were more than 1,000 Turnpike companies in England, maintaining 32,000 kilimetres of road. London and other big cities were connected by a stagecoach network - for example it took fewer than two days to travel from London to Edinburgh by coach whereas one hundred years earlier it had taken almost a fortnight.

      New Road construction techniques were developed by John MacAdam, Thomas Telford and John Metcalfe. Each of them put forward the idea of building raised, cambered roads which allowed water to drain off them as fast as possible. MacAdam's technique, which used tar mixed with roadstone and called tarmacadam, became widely used and, eventually developed into the modern method of road building.

      Stage coach travel reached a peak between 1815 and 1840, when over 30,000 people were employed and there were regular Royal Mail coaches, carrying both passengers and mail, between all the towns and cities in Britain. From around 1840, stagecoach travel began to decline as it entered into competition with a new and much faster form of transport, the railways.

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      • #4
        I suspect they had their own carts/waggons/caravans like today's travelling circuses.

        I wouldn't risk putting props on a train or stage coach.

        Have a look at Nicholas Nickleby. That must describe how the travelling company moved around.
        Phoenix - with charred feathers
        Researching Skillings from Norfolk, Sworn from Salisbury and Adams in Malborough, Devon.

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        • #5
          If you've got access to the Gale newspaper archive of 19th. century newspapers, there are oodles of ads. for coaches and coastal shipping as well as the early railways. I've been trawling the Newcastle Courant (looking for something else) and have seen transport history unfolding. Another possibility is travelling by canal.
          Uncle John - Passed away March 2020

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          • #6
            Brilliant - thanks so much for your input - off to look at the links

            JANE

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            • #7
              Originally posted by Phoenix View Post
              I suspect they had their own carts/waggons/caravans like today's travelling circuses.

              I wouldn't risk putting props on a train or stage coach.
              But in "Dumbo" the circus had it's own train wagons!!! lolol

              Also, I can remember the fair coming by train, as well as lorry, when I was a child

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              • #8
                It depends when in the 1800's but my g grandparents travelled from Cornwall to Northumberland by train in 1865.
                Daphne

                Looking for Northey, Goodfellow, Jobes, Heal, Lilburn, Curry, Gay, Carpenter, Johns, Harris, Vigus from Cornwall, Somerset, Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, USA, Australia.

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                • #9
                  Any ideas how long journeys could take in the 1870s for example - or where I could find a "travel agents guide" for UK travel for the period?

                  I've had a quick look at the Gale site and stagecoach owners were very competetive in London; employing so-called 'cads' to stop customers entering the oppositions coaches - one cad took a baby from its mother's arms and place it in his employer's coach thinking the mother would follow. Mum was not playing along, rescued her baby and got into the good guys coach. Fascinating stuff - no wonder I keep getting lost in Gale.........

                  JANE

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                  • #10
                    If they travelled by train, the journey wouldn't have taken much longer than it does now!

                    The various train companies took great pride in running to time and lateness could result in the Driver being sacked.

                    OC

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                    • #11
                      Historical directories contain some information about stage coach links at the beginning of each section:

                      Historical Directories

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                      • #12
                        Here's an example from Pigot's Directory of 1828-29:

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Olde Crone Holden View Post
                          If they travelled by train, the journey wouldn't have taken much longer than it does now!

                          The various train companies took great pride in running to time and lateness could result in the Driver being sacked.

                          OC
                          Have you drawn this to the attention of the various rail companies ?

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                          • #14
                            BC

                            If I could ever a) find a human being in a railway office (mine is not manned) or b) get on the railway timetable site without it completely crashing my computer, I would!

                            OC

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                            • #15
                              Merry, You say "between 1815 and 1840, when over 30,000 people were employed"

                              Was that England and Wales or did it include Scotland?

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                              • #16
                                Originally posted by Olde Crone Holden View Post
                                BC

                                If I could ever a) find a human being in a railway office (mine is not manned) or b) get on the railway timetable site without it completely crashing my computer, I would!

                                OC
                                OC, I know the feeling !!!

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