Interval #1.1 - Stagecoach Travel

We're right at the start of Douglas's journey now.  He's about to set off from London to Liverpool to board a ship for the United States.  He records in his Journal "Left Charing Cross by coach for Liverpool".  But where in Charing Cross?  And what was the coach like?  And the journey?

Just as nowadays there are several mainline railway stations in London serving different parts of the country so there were many different departure points in Regency London.  I am indebted to Greg Roberts and his blog "Wicked William" for much invaluable information in what follows.

Roberts explains that "If you are heading out of London in 1819, you ought to be aware the best coaching inn from where to begin your journey. First and foremost it is important to remember that London is served by over 120 stagecoach inns, and every one of them offers a selection of destinations. Where stabling is ample, such as the Golden Cross in Charing Cross, the widest selection of options are available. However, most inns concentrate on specific routes to the same part of the country".

Douglas says he left from Charing Cross so it's a reasonable assumption that he left from the Golden Cross.  And yet, certainly in 1819, services to Liverpool appeared to depart from The Swan with Two Necks, Cheapside.  But The Swan, in Lad Lane (later Gresham Street) is a considerable distance from Douglas's stated departure in Charing Cross so we must assume that by 1823 the service to Liverpool had moved to the Golden Cross.

The Golden Cross Inn, Charing Cross [Roberts & Wicked William]

  Roberts tells us that "This famous inn was a thriving transport hub back in the days when Charing Cross was a mere village between the cities of London and Westminster. Probably reaching its apogee in 1819, a combination of pressure for urban redevelopment and the onset of railways lead to a sudden death for this inn. By 1827 The Gentleman’s Magazine reported that the Golden Cross and its ‘extensive stables’ had been acquired by commissioners acting on behalf of the architect John Nash for the princely sum of £30,000 – and Trafalgar Square’s development was underway. There is a great literary connection to Charles Dickens as The Golden Cross features in Sketches by Boz, David Copperfield and The Pickwick Papers".  

Many inns were a hive of commercial activity, where goods and services could be traded – quite often tradesmen used their local inn on business cards. Most inns also offered entertainment alongside accommodation for their clients. Sports such as boxing were a common draw, delaying passengers from leaving too soon.  We must assume that Douglas resisted these temptations, in a sternly Scottish, Presbyterian sort of way and set off for Liverpool from a well-established London coaching inn, albeit one with only a limited future ahead of it.  We can expect, from Roberts and Wicked William, a scene much like this as several coaches jostled for departure outside a busy coaching inn.

And what of the journey?  No-one could describe it as an easy ride. 

Judith Flanders[1] gives an excellent description of how arduous stagecoach travel could be.

“The stages carried four passengers inside, and ten or twelve outside, who perched up on benches on the roof….One lucky passenger got the box seat beside the coachman.  Seating, inside and out, was on a first come, first served basis, so passengers generally arrived a little before departure time to reserve a particular seat.  Once that seat had been taken, no matter how many changes and rest stops there were, etiquette required that each passenger always returned to the same place.  Dickens describes in The Pickwick Papers that ‘the outsides did as outsides always do.  They were very cheerful and talkative at the beginning of every stage, and very dismal and sleepy in the middle, and very bright and wakeful again towards the end.”

And coaching was dangerous and uncomfortable [the coaches were relatively tall and narrow and, overloaded with passengers on the roof, this made for a top-heavy and unstable ride.  Overturnings were not uncommon].   

 Reproduced from Wicked William blog

“If it rained the insides became nearly as wet and muddy as the outsides.  Straw was scattered on the floor for insulation against the cold, although it was usually dirty and wet….And yet inside was a considerable improvement on outside.  A queasy passenger complained that on his first stagecoach ride, in 1835, the choices were sitting facing the horses ‘but without anything against my back’ or facing backwards’ but secured from falling over and breaking my neck’.  In either case all that protected him from the bare boards was a cushion, which ‘is alas soaking from the previous day’.

---

[1]          Flanders, Judith, The Victorian City – Everyday Life in Dickens’ London, Atlantic Books, 2012, pp 90-101

Washington Irving's comment that "I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach that it is often a comfort to shift one's position and be bruised in a new place" seems very apt.   

And Douglas had the best part of two days of this, with hasty stops, indifferent food (Meals were provided for coach passengers, though the times allowed must have encouraged indigestion; ten minutes for breakfast, and twenty for dinner, which incidentally was at dinner time, and not, as is becoming common today, at supper time.[2]  ("Dinner time" in this context is probably at or around midday)  and little rest before arriving in Liverpool.  [2]  Houlder, Eric, Ferrybridge Coaching Days http://www.knottingley.org/history/stagecoaches/coaching_days.htm

In fact Douglas could expect to be fleeced at provincial Inns.  Roberts and Wicked William tell us that: 
"When undertaking a long journey from London, the cost of your fare and luggage was far from the only expense to be considered. Provincial inns had a reputation pretty much like today’s motorway service stations and were only too ready to fleece passengers for all manner of additional charges as they stopped for rest and refreshment. For example it was widely established that stops should only last 20 minutes. Passengers were expected to pay for their meal in advance but rarely had time to eat it before going on their way. So coaching inns commonly re-sold ‘left-overs’ to the next coach party. If you were unfortunate enough to stay overnight, it was usual to tip the coachman and any accompanying staff, waiters, coaching inn porters, and even charges for candles in your room (which could be as much as 5 shillings extra per night!). There were even ‘local’ taxes levied for support of the poor. Hence lengthy journeys often led to hefty bills, so the best option for any departee from London was to find a regular service from an established carrier, using good roads with minimal stops."

 Fully laden stagecoach at Highgate c.1835 [Greg Roberts & Wicked William]

If he did but know it this would become the model for at least the early part of his plant collecting career in the north-eastern USA

Interval #1

Having got Douglas as far as Albany I'm going to pause and backtrack for a while.  Albany marks a significant change in this 1823 journey.  Although he has been active in visiting gardens and fulfilling that part of his commission relating to providing examples of new fruits etc he hasn't really been doing much seed or plant collecting.  From Albany onwards he is journeying 'upcountry' and doing the plant collecting activities which really interest him, indeed in a few days time he will say "This is what I might term my first day in America".

So I'm taking a break from following him day-by-day from the 1823 Journal and focusing more on his experience of his journey to date.  I'll start back in London so there's a bit of catching up to do.  I've work going on behind the scenes with the RHS Library and will be exploring some other primary sources both in the UK and USA.

I'll restart the day-by-day Commentary as soon as I can but in the meantime watch out for what I can find on How it Was to be Douglas in 1823!

PS - It's Burns Night soon (25th January).  Although Douglas would be back in the UK by 1824, so not in the scope of the 1823 Journal, would he have celebrated it wherever he was (London?)?

More gardens, and a steamboat to Albany

Tuesday, September 2nd, 1823 – I visited, at the advice of Dr Hosack, a friend of his seven miles from town, who is a fruit grower. I obtained a curious sort of bean of South American origin..... I rode in the afternoon with Dr Hosack to some of his friends, fourteen miles from town.

Wednesday, September 3rd, 1823 – The greatest part of this day I spent with Mr Shaw, a private gentleman of this city, who is a fruit grower of more than ordinary merit. His garden is about two acres, occupied solely with peaches and grapes. His peaches are in excellent state of bearing, only four years old. He has a plant of Isabella grape, trained up over the veranda of his house, covering a space of about 75 feet in length, and has a very weighty crop, thought to prove a valuable thing in wine or probably dessert.

Thursday, September 4th, 1823 – [Douglas finally leaves town, after 4 days delay] At 5 o’clock this morning I went on board the steamboat ‘James Kent’ and proceeded up the River Hudson towards Albany. The scenery was particularly fine on the west side; the perpendicular rocks covered with wood. About forty miles from New York, in the highlands, many pleasant villas are seen from the river. West Point is still pointed out to strangers.
At half-past 1 o’clock I went ashore at Governor Lewis’, eighty miles from New York

[#1 ie. travelling at around 9½ mph, upstream against the current. That is pretty good progress if DD is accurate in his distance-keeping. I suspect not quite.

#2 Governor Morgan Lewis was by this time no longer Governor so the title is a courtesy one. He had been the third Governor of New York between 1804 & 1807, but was still a person of great power and influence, and well placed to facilitate Douglas’s work]. 

Calling at his house I found that he and his family were on a visit to the western part of the State, I then made towards an inn, to obtain refreshment, which was three miles distant.  In the afternoon I took a walk by the side of the Hudson.  I found nothing interesting except a rose which was growing out of a crevice of rock

Friday September 5th, 1823 – At 5 o’clock this morning I was aroused from bed by a James Thomson, Jun, of Ellerslie, who is a neighbour to Governor Lewis. He very kindly took me from the tavern [they start early don’t they] and afforded me his house during my stay there. I received great attention from Mrs Thomson, which was thankfully acknowledged…..I stayed here all day; went to bed early as I intended to take the steamboat for Albany which passed early the following morning.

A steamboat service on the Hudson was now well-established  and Douglas made full use of it. Steamboat service between Albany and New York City continued unabated for over 150 years. By 1823, the Fulton and Livingston Line was running daily Monday through Saturday with the James Kent [which Douglas caught out of NYC] and the Saratoga, alternating the two boats every other day, one leaving Albany and the other leaving New York City.

http://newyorkhistoryblog.org/2015/08/11/early-years-of-steamboating-on-the-hudson/

Saturday, September 6th, 1823 – [an early start for our man] I embarked in the ‘Richmond’ steamboat on her way to Albany at 1 o’clock am. Very little difference in point of scenery etc from that which i had seen two days before.  At 11 o’clock I arrived at Albany. I waited on His Excellency Governor Clinton, who showed me attention, desiring me to call the following day and he would consult with me as to my route.

I went to the vegetable market.... [blah, blah, same old, same old!]

Attempts to leave New York City - thwarted!

Monday September 1st, 1823 – [Douglas attempts to leave town] In the morning, wrote to Mr Sabine [Secretary of the Horticultural Society in London and the person to whom Douglas had to report] and sent my despatch off at 10am. I prepared to leave town early [to go up the Hudson] by steamboat; owing to a change of boats I was prevented for the present. I set my dry plants to rights in the afternoon and attended in the evening a committee meeting of the New York Horticultural Society, for the purpose of offering their assistance to me during my residence in this city. M Hoffman, Esq., the President, is a man of reputation, being a wealthy merchant here. He uses me with all possible attention imaginable; invited me to stay at his all night, which I did. They will assist me materially in the way of my selection.  [This is another example of Douglas working his contacts to extract maximum benefit from his time in the USA.  No doubt the long arm of Professor Hooker is at work here, along with Sabine and locally Dr Hosack.  It's also another example of Douglas's role as an ambassador for the Horticultural Society, one in which he will make a good impression; he is helping the Horticultural Society in Britain quite as much as he is being helped by the New York Horticutural Society.  Just one example of the vigorous and active trade in ideas and knowledge, horticultural and scientific, which spanned the Atlantic and the whole of Europe. ]

There is currently a thriving and influential Horticultural Society of New York (founded in 1902) but it isn't the New York Horticultural Society which Douglas visited. Shades of the Popular Front of Judea!! The original New York Horticultural Society seems to have met with repeated failure to establish a botanic garden but inaugurated a movement that by the 1890s culminated in the creation of the New York Botanical Garden, a splendid institution to which I heartily recommend a visit.

Back to New York

Wednesday, August 27th, 1823 - We set off by steamboat at 11 o'clock from Philadelphia to Bordentown. Here stands the house of Joseph Bonaparte, a most splendid mansion, fields well cultivated, pleasure grounds laid out in the English style; there are many fine views. We then took stage and came to Amboy during the night, where we slept all night. 

Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte (7 January 1768 – 28 July 1844) was the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. In 1806, Joseph was given military command of Naples, and shortly afterward was made king by Napoleon, to be replaced two years later by his sister's husband, Joachim Murat. Joseph was then made King of Spain in August 1808, soon after the French invasion.
 

Joseph somewhat reluctantly left Naples, where he was popular, and arrived in Spain where he was very unpopular indeed. Joseph lived primarily in the United States (where he sold the jewels he had taken from Spain) in the period 1817–1832, initially in New York City and Philadelphia, where his house became the centre of activity for French expatriates, but later moved to an estate called Point Breeze in Bordentown, New Jersey. Joseph's home was located near the confluence of Crosswicks Creek and the Delaware River.

August 28th-31st, 1823 - [Last days in New York, for the moment].

Thursday 28th - took steamboat at half-past 4 o'clock and landed at New York at half-past 10pm. As soon as possible I had the plants from the office where they had been left, took them to the son of Mr Hogg and had them planted and secured. [Bear in mind that he hasn't arrived in NYC until 10.30pm, so he must be doing all this, including planting, in darkness!]  I cannot but consider myself happy at meeting with Mr Hogg; he careful attends to the little treasures during my absence. [Mr Hogg has indeed been a great help to Douglas as well as, I suspect, a congenial companion.  They will have further adventures together before Douglas leaves the USA.]

Friday, 29th - This morning I put the Osage apple in spirits; afterwards I waited on Mr Floy for the purpose of selecting specimen trees from his grounds.

Saturday 30th - I made in the morning a visit to the market and during the forenoon went round to a Mr Wilson, a market gardener, where I saw good vegetables, particularly celery, and a good stock of trees; he is building a large elegant greenhouse.

Sunday, 31st - I went to Flushing this morning; talked to Mr Prince of the plants. I found only the son at home, who is a great pedant. [Douglas really, REALLY, doesn't like the Princes, father or son]. I returned about 2pm [and] the remaining part of the day I was employed with my lists and catalogues [no doubt listing all the interesting specimens he has seen and considering, from the seed and plant catalogues, where he can get hold of seed to bring back to Britain]