Travel in the 19th century

[Ponytail]

Travel in the 19th century.

Sheffield Mercury 22nd September 1832

Advertisement for travel by Coach and Horses from the Angel Inn, Angel Street and Commercial Inn, Haymarket, Sheffield. The stopping off towns named to the different destinations would be a welcome short break for the travellers who had to be prepared for a bumpy ride on the rough Turnpike Roads especially in bad weather but there would be a welcome at the Inn to quickly eat, drink and warm themselves while the horses were changed. 

When first copied a few years ago, wasn't able to make it legible on one sheet, managed to piece it together.

The Hero, a new coach operating from the Angel Yard and an advert for an apprentice coach builder for Mr. Bradley at the Angel Inn. 

Sheffield Mercury September 1832. 

Transportation of criminals to Australia happened from 1788 to 1868 an example, George Badger from Sheffield was found guilty of stealing a coat and other articles in 1841 and sentenced 10 years transportion. 

Encouragement for Emigration to Australia and Van Diemans Land (Tasmania) increased between 1833 - 1837 especially for single women, with a promise of "service, high wages... and marriage as soon as they please." 

Advertisement for Emigration on board the Eliza to Hobart Town, Van Diemans Land and Sydney, New South Wales. Sheffield Mercury 3rd November 1832. 

There were hazards to Coach travel, although not from our area but an example of reported in the Sheffield Mercury 2nd November 1835.

Notice of the Sheffield to Chapel en le Frith Turnpike Road Meeting regarding repair of the road and increase in tolls. 

Sheffield Mercury 10th March 1832.

 

[Heartshome]

At a Victorian event several years ago, my friend & I were invited to 'Ride the Stagecoach'. We happily agreed!

We had to have help though getting on and up to the top front seats in our Victorian Dresses, & were perched

above the driver. I can honestly say 'IT WAS SCAREY' Bouncing & lurching about when it stopped or went round

a corner. We clung onto the seat sides & back in readiness after a while of getting used to it.

Lord knows! how the passengers went on with the state of the highways back in the old days.

It was 'an experience'. Even more hilarious! was us, trying to get off, we practically fell down into the Coachmans

waiting arms, causing a bit of a chuckle!

[Lysanderix]

My gggg grandfather was found guilty of robbery on the highway near Kirton Lindsey…(they stole about 30 bobs worth of promissory notes from a grain dealer…without violence)Sentenced to hang at Lincoln Assizes ,this was commuted to transportation to Oz for life on account of there being no violence.

He left a heavily pregnant wife who had no chance of remarriage until her husband died. He did so , of influenza, aged 65 in Sydney workhouse. She never remarried.

 His wife became a midwife and was helped , presumably financially,by a Mr Foster . In gratitude her son was christened… Foster …and to this day the eldest son still carries that name.

 

 

 

 

[Athy]

That's one heck of a story.

[MartinR]

Interesting that the coaching articles come from 1832.  The S&DR had opened in 1825 and the L&MR in 1830, so this was the period immediately prior to the coming of railways.  As well as the stage coaches, travel by canal and coaster was also popular.  Sheffield is a way inland with the canals going north, but passenger carrying ships operated from Newcastle-upon-Tyne to London for example.  In the emigration advertisement it was interesting to see she was described as "the beautiful and armed b****e"¹.  Not just the highways under threat then!

 

¹Possibly brigantine or barquentine (aka barkentine), probably the latter at 208 tons.

[Ponytail]

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;y10815&pos=47&action=zoom&id=113583

Plan of Commercial Hotel and Public House, Haymarket known as the Commercial Tap showing stables and outbuildings, to be sold at Auction 1866.

[Ponytail]

https://www.picturesheffield.com/frontend.php?keywords=Ref_No_increment;EQUALS;arc02047&pos=51&action=zoom&id=115175

Plan of Sheffield Markets 1826 showing the Angel Inn and the Commercial Inn (Hotel) 

[Ponytail]

The Eliza sailed from Dublin 9th July 1833 arriving Hobart with cargo and 103 passengers (49 assisted) 3rd November 1833.

Australia Ship Passenger Lists

http://www.freesurnamesearch.com

Assisted immigrant ships 1832-1889

https://libraries.tas.gov.au

 

[Lysanderix]

The Sheffield canal was opened several years before 1832…and I know the Tinsley flight of locks slowed down the progression of barge traffic but, I wonder, was there ever a passenger service toward Hull on our canal?

[Ponytail]

On 29/11/2022 at 14:49, Lysanderix said:

The Sheffield canal was opened several years before 1832…and I know the Tinsley flight of locks slowed down the progression of barge traffic but, I wonder, was there ever a passenger service toward Hull on our canal?

Good question Lysanderix, according to Wikipedia by 1840 there was a "Service second to none" to Greasbrough twice weekly by "fly boat" which ran in connection with the Hull and London steamers.

If somebody could do the link for me please.. Wikipedia Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, or can add further information I'd be very grateful. 

You learn something everyday, at least I do. The way we're going we'll have comprehensive list of possible travel options in the 1830's.

I love it, all I need now is good reliable transport links in the 2022's!!! 

----------------

Edit: link added

[MartinR]

From Wikipedia:

Quote

 

The River Don is known to have been navigable up to Doncaster as early as 1343, when a commission looked at the problems caused by bridges and weirs. It underwent major changes in the 1620s, when Cornelius Vermuyden closed the channel which crossed Hatfield Chase to reach the River Trent at Adlingfleet, and diverted all of the water northwards to the River Aire. Following flooding and riots, a new outlet was cut from Newbridge to Goole, which was known as the Dutch River. Serious thought was given to improving the river from 1691, but disagreements between groups from Doncaster, Rotherham and Sheffield prevented progress. Finally, the Sheffield Cutlers obtained an Act of Parliament in 1726 to improve the river up to Tinsley. Doncaster Corporation then obtained an Act in 1727 to authorise improvements below Doncaster.

The Dutch River was difficult to navigate, and in 1793, the Stainforth and Keadby Canal was authorised, to provide a link from the Don at Stainforth to the Trent at Keadby. Although notionally independent, it was effectively under the control of the Don Navigation when it opened, probably in 1802. The Dearne and Dove Canal was also authorised in 1793, from Swinton to Barnsley, and was again under Don Navigation control, since most of the shareholders were also shareholders in the Don. A canal from Tinsley into Sheffield was delayed for years by opposition from the Don Navigation, but was authorised in 1815 and opened in 1819.

 

I can't find the mention of fly boats in the S&SYN page, but they were common on many other canals, for instance from Wolverhampton or Birmingham to London.  the question though is whether a fly boat up to Keadby (43 miles and 27 locks, so lets say 15 hours run) and then steam boat down the Humber (allowing for tides, lets say 24 hours) to meet the packet boats to  London (possibly 2 days) would be quicker than the stage.  Probably much more comfortable though, and possibly cheaper.

[Ponytail]

2 hours ago, MartinR said:

From Wikipedia:

I can't find the mention of fly boats in the S&SYN page, but they were common on many other canals, for instance from Wolverhampton or Birmingham to London.  the question though is whether a fly boat up to Keadby (43 miles and 27 locks, so lets say 15 hours run) and then steam boat down the Humber (allowing for tides, lets say 24 hours) to meet the packet boats to  London (possibly 2 days) would be quicker than the stage.  Probably much more comfortable though, and possibly cheaper.

That's what I thought, as the vessel may or may not have been horse pulled. As you say more comfortable and cheaper and probably safer! Does anybody have an ancestor who worked on the canals in Sheffield? 

It wouldn't be too long before the railway from Sheffield to Rotherham opened (31st October 1838) although the people of Rotherham weren't happy about having the "undesirables" from Sheffield coming to their town and signed petitions. Then later it would link up with the Derby to Leeds, North Midland Railway (1840) Masbrough Station erected 1844.  

Changing times. The railways must have been a worrying end for many of the jobs connected to the Coaching Inns and the Canals. Unfortunately that's what progress often does, ruins some who can't or won't adapt and makes money for the new business. 

The navvies who dug the canals now building railways instead, moving wherever the work was. 

It's very thought provoking and makes you realise why your ancestors moved and so far from their place of birth. 

My great grandad Charles Land born 1853 in Derby moved to Leeds 1872 to be first a cleaner (engines) for the Midland Railway, moving to Carlisle, progressing to fireman (to put it simply shovelled the coal on the engine) when the Settle to Carlisle Line opened. Later registered as a driver, working at Kirkby Stephen and Appleby before promotion to "working engines" foreman coming to Sheffield 1897. His father had been a sadler and Charles must have been forward thinking and excited by the railways not to follow his father's work and probably better paid. 

The coachmen must have been a hardy breed out in all weather's and under stress to keep the coach running to time. Does anybody know if they travelled all the way to the destination or whether they changed drivers as well as horses? How did they keep warm? How did they drive the coach in the dark? ... no lights along the roads! perhaps they drove the route so often they knew every twist and turn. Were they stranded and for how long when something happened to the coach or the horses? How did they deal with those who lay in wait to rob them, was it everyone for themselves or would they protect the passengers? 

Finding the "Hatched, Matched and Despatched" of ancestors was just the start, finding the working and social history of them intrigues me more. 

[MartinR]

I can't talk about the S&SYN, but the Midlands fly boats were all horse drawn.  There were no high speed steam boats at that period, the screw propeller was only developed in 1837 as a curio and first used with significant success in 1843 on the SS Great Britain.  Steamboats in 1832 were all paddleboats which were too wide for canal work and destroyed the banks.  A pair of horses, or on the wider canals up to four were harnessed up the the boat an "whipped up to a gallop".  (Personally I've a suspicion that that description has a bit of artistic licence.)  They seemed have been able to manage around 10 mph, with priority over all other traffic which had to cast off or lower their tow ropes on the approach of the flyboat.  Manned locks would be readied for their approach.

There is a description of a passage by flyboat in the novel "HORNBLOWER  and  the ATROPOS" by C S Forester, available online at Faded Page.

Quote

 

Her draught must be less than a foot; that was clear as she tore along behind the cantering horses at a speed that must certainly be all of eight knots—nine miles an hour he told himself, hurriedly, for that was the way they measured speeds here inland.

The passage-boat was making her way from Gloucester to London along the Thames and Severn Canal; going far more smoothly than the stage coach, it was very nearly as fast and decidedly cheaper, at a penny a mile, even in the first class. ...

Standing on his sea chest, Hornblower could look over the canal banks, at the grey stone boundary walls and the grey stone farms. The rhythmic sound of the hoofs of the cantering tow horses accentuated the smoothness of the travel; the boat itself made hardly a sound as it slid along over the surface of the water—Hornblower noticed that the boatmen had the trick of lifting the bows, by a sudden acceleration, on to the crest of the bow wave raised by her passage, and retaining them there.  This reduced turbulence in the canal to a minimum; it was only when he looked aft that he could see, far back, the reeds at the banks bowing and straightening again long after they had gone by. It was this trick that made the fantastic speed possible. The cantering horses maintained their nine miles an hour, being changed every half hour. There were two towlines, attached to timber heads at bow and stern; one boatman rode as postillion on the rear horse, controlling the lead horse with shouts and the cracking of his whip. In the stern sat the other boatman, surly and with one hand missing and replaced by a hook; with the other he held the tiller and steered the boat round the curves with a skill that Hornblower admired.

 

and slightly later:

Quote

 

The grey stone tower of a lock-house showed ahead, with the minute figure of the lock-keeper opening the gates. A yell from the postillion-boatman checked the speed of the horses; the boat glided on, its speed diminishing greatly as the bows slid off the bow wave. As the boat entered the lock the one-handed steersman leaped ashore with a line which he flipped dexterously round a bollard; a smart tug or two took most of the way off the boat, and the boatman, running forward, secured the line to another bollard.

...

Already the lock-keeper was closing the gates behind them and the lock-keeper’s wife was opening the paddles of the upper gate, the water swirling in. The lower gates closed with a crash with the mounting pressure, and the boat rose with the gurgling water. The horses were changed in a twinkling; the postillion scrambled into his saddle, and proceeded to tilt a black bottle against his lips during the remaining few seconds while the lock filled. The steersman was casting off the lines—Hornblower took the bow-line from him—and the lock-keeper’s wife was thrusting at one upper gate while the lock-keeper, running up from the lower gate, thrust at the other. The postillion yelled and cracked his whip, the boat sprang forward while the helmsman leaped to his place astern, and they were off again with not a second wasted. Assuredly this canal traffic was a miracle of modernity, and it was gratifying to be on board the very fastest of the canal boats, the Queen Charlotte, that took priority over all other traffic. On her bow she carried a glittering scythe-blade as the proud symbol of her superior importance.  It would sever the towline of any approaching boat which did not drop her line quickly enough to let her through.

 

 

[Ponytail]

Weren't the reports so descriptive? You could nearly be there watching. Or is that just me!!! It's this sort of reporting that really gives you a fabulous insight into the days proceedings. I suppose its because there was no modern day camera to record the scene their descriptive writing had to do the job. 

Thanks MartinR for all the information. Has anybody information from incidents on the Sheffield & South Yorkshire Navigation?

[MartinR]

Remember that the "reports" are a novel - but - Forester was known for his accurate descriptions of the period (particularly the details of the ships), and this description ties in beautifully with contemporary descriptions that I have seen in the past.  Hadfield (1969) notes that as late as 1845 flyboats were running between London and Bristol taking 36 hours for the passage along the Kennet & Avon Canal.  Coming a bit closer to Sheffield, Hadfield (1972) records flyboats being used on both the Aire & Calder and the Calder & Hebble, I've not yet found a reference to the S&SYN though.  The Aire & Calder chapter records steam packets working up from Hull to Gainsborough, Thorne and Selby.  The passage though could be a little interesting: "These packets ran non-stop.  Passengers joining along the route had to hire a boat to take them out to meet the ship, or use a ferry boat to do so"!  By 1819 the flyboats and coaches were connecting with the steamers: "for the expeditious conveyance of Goods from Manchester and Leeds to Hull by means of Waggons and Steam Packets".

I'm afraid I only have volume I of The Canals of South and Southeast England, volume II starts with the S&SYN.  I suspect a trawl around second-hand booksellers is immanent!

Bibliography:

• Hadfield, Charles. The Canals of South and Southeast England. The Canals of the British Isles. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1969. 386.0941.
• Hadfield, Charles. The Canals of Yorkshire and North East England. Vol. I. The Canals of the British Isles. Newton Abbot: David and Charles, 1972. 386.0941.

[Lysanderix]

All very fascinating stuff. My interest in the Sheffield canal was, firstly, working in an office which overlooked a basin at Tinsley and, secondly, having organised what might have been one of the last shipments of steel from Sheffield to Hull docks by barge.

[Athy]

2 hours ago, Lysanderix said:

All very fascinating stuff. My interest in the Sheffield canal was, firstly, working in an office which overlooked a basin at Tinsley and, secondly, having organised what might have been one of the last shipments of steel from Sheffield to Hull docks by barge.

How long ago was that shipment?

[Lysanderix]

1970. Waddingtons provided a couple of barges which were loaded with around a hundred tonnes of spring steel bar for a customer in Denmark.

Just a feeling it might have been one of the last shipments. For some years after ,the canal was still being used for the importation of ferro-alloys for steel melting.

[MartinR]

I've acquired a copy of volume II of Hadfield's The Canals of Yorkshire and the North-East volume II.²😃

Sheffield directories dated 1839, 1841 and 1845 give some interesting facts.  There were two direct services to London by Humber Sloops from Sheffield.¹  As well as the direct services flyboats ran to Thorne where goods were forwarded to Goole for dispatch by sailing vessels (twice a week) or paddleships (three times a week) to London.  Flyboat services also ran on the other rivers of Yorkshire down the canals and navigations to the ports.  This situation didn't last long, by 1845 rail communication was offered to Hull and Selby for onwards water transport to London.  In fact, by 1843 "The Canal Company ... are poor", traffic and the rates that could be charged had fallen off with the arrival of the Iron Road.

¹A Humber sloop had a similar hull to the more familiar Humber Keel, but   whereas the latter was square-rigged, the sloop had a fore-and-aft rig.  Both had hinged masts that enabled them to be lowered to pass under bridges.  See Humber Sloop – Origins on the website of the Humber Keel and Sloop Preservation Society.

²Hadfield, Charles. The Canals of Yorkshire and North East England. Vol. II. The Canals of the British Isles. Newton Abbot: David and Charles, 1973. 386.0941.

[Neilma]

What a fascinating insight. Thank you so very much for all your research. My Great Grandfather, G Grandmother and their daughter came to Australia in the 1860's Unfortunately I can find no record of this event and feel there may be a spelling error. I often wondered how they traveled  from Sheffield to board a boat for OZ, now I have a few ideas

[Lysanderix]

By 1860 Sheffield was well connected by rail with the major ports  so I imagine rail would be the most likely way and Liverpool a likely port.

[Ponytail]

Advertisement for Royal Mail and General Coach Offices, Angel Inn, Angel Street and Commercial Inn, Haymarket, from Robson's Birmingham & Sheffield Directory 1839 

 

 

[Ponytail]

Travel options in 1839, from Robson's Birmingham and Sheffield Directory. 

Sheffield  

 

Rotherham

[Ponytail]

Travel Options from Whites Directory 1849

[Ponytail]

Travel Options Whites Directory 1856