Shipped from Cheltenham, England in 1960 to the United States. This 18 passenger coach was used on the run from Cheltenham to London. At this time George III was King of England, Napoleon was Emperor of France, and Thomas Jefferson was President of the United States.
“Besides this excellent convenience of conveying letters, and men on horseback, there is of late such admirable commodiousness, both for men and women of better rank, to travel from London to almost any great town in England, and to almost all the villages near this great city, that the like hath not been known in the world, and that is by stage coaches, wherein one may be transported to any place, sheltered from foul weather, and foul ways, free from endamaging one’s health or body, by hard jogging or over violent motion, and this not only at a low price, as about a shilling for every five miles, but with such velocity and speed, as that the posts in some foreign countries, make not more than a mile a day; for the Stage Coaches called Flying Coaches, make forty or fifty miles in a day, as from London to Oxford, or Cambridge, and that in the space of 12 hours, not counting the time for dining; setting forth not too early, nor coming in too late.”
From The World in Miniature by W.H. Pyne (Google Books)
We have a letter in file from the Thames Valley Police regarding a similar coach stolen in 1993 from Oxfordshire, England. If you see a coach like this one please notify the Forney Museum.
