A coach was originally a large, usually closed, four-wheeled carriage

Carriage

A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...

 with two or more horses harnessed as a team, controlled by a coachman

Coachman

A coachman is a man whose business it is to drive a coach, a horse-drawn vehicle designed for the conveyance of more than one passenger — and of mail — and covered for protection from the elements...

 and/or one or more postilion

Postilion

A postilion rider was the driver of a horse-drawn coach or post chaise, mounted on one of the drawing horses...

s. It had doors in the sides, with generally a front and a back seat inside and, for the driver, a small, usually elevated seat in front called a box, box seat or coach box. For the early history of the coach, see the article on 'Carriage'.

Kocs

Kocs

Kocs is a village in Komárom-Esztergom county, Hungary. It lies west of Tata and west of Budapest.-History:Kocs is best known internationally as giving rise to the English word coach and its equivalents in nearly all European languages, for example: Czech koč, German kutsche, Dutch koets,...

 was the Hungarian post town in the 15th century onwards, which gave its name to a fast light vehicle, which later spread across Europe. Therefore the English word coach, the Spanish and Portuguese coche, the German Kutsche, and the Slovak and Czech koč all probably derive from the Hungarian

Hungarian language

Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....

 word "kocsi", literally meaning "of Kocs".

A coach with four horses is a coach-and-four. A coach together with the horses, harness and attendants is a turnout.
The bodies of early coaches, as of American Concord stagecoaches, were hung on leather straps. In the eighteenth century steel springs were substituted, an improvement in suspension

Suspension (vehicle)

Suspension is the term given to the system of springs, shock absorbers and linkages that connects a vehicle to its wheels. Suspension systems serve a dual purpose — contributing to the car's roadholding/handling and braking for good active safety and driving pleasure, and keeping vehicle occupants...

. An advertisement in the Edinburgh Courant

Edinburgh Courant

The Edinburgh Courant was a broadsheet newspaper from the 18th Century. It was published out of Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland. Its first issue was dated Feb 14-19, 1705 and was sold for a penny. It was one of the country's first regional papers, second only to the Norwich Post...

for 1754 reads:

The Edinburgh stage-coach, for the better accommodation of passengers, will be altered to a new genteel two-end glass coach-machine, hung on steel springs, exceedingly light and easy...

A coach might have a built-in compartment called a boot, used originally as a seat for the coachman and later for storage. A luggage case for the top of a coach was called an imperial; the top, roof or second-story compartment of a coach was also known as an imperial. The front and rear axle

Axle

An axle is a central shaft for a rotating wheel or gear. On wheeled vehicles, the axle may be fixed to the wheels, rotating with them, or fixed to its surroundings, with the wheels rotating around the axle. In the former case, bearings or bushings are provided at the mounting points where the axle...

s were connected by a main shaft called the perch or reach. A crossbar known as a splinter bar supported the springs. Coaches were often decorated by painters using a sable brush called a liner.

In the 19th century the term coach was applied to railway carriages, and later to motor coaches

Coach (vehicle)

A coach is a large motor vehicle, a type of bus, used for conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even between countries...

.

Types of coaches

There are a number of coach types, including:

• araba
  Araba (carriage)
  An araba is a carriage , wagon or cart drawn by horses or oxen, used in Turkey and neighboring Middle Eastern countries. It is usually heavy and without springs, and often covered.-References:* Educational Technology Clearinghouse, University of South Florida. Drawing.**...
  
  , aroba or arba: used in Turkey and neighboring countries

• coachee: American, shaped like a coach but longer and open in front

• Concord coach: large, closed, horse-drawn; body swung on leather thorough braces, driver's seat outside in front, covered baggage compartment at the rear

• The park drag carriage was a lighter, more elegant version of the road coach. A park drag (or simply drag) is also known as a "private coach" as it was owned by private individuals for their own personal driving. A park drag has seats on its top and is usually driven to a team of four well-matched carriage horses.

• fly
  Fly (carriage)
  A fly was a horse-drawn public coach or delivery wagon, especially one let out for hire. In Britain, the term also referred to a light covered vehicle, such as a single-horse pleasure carriage or a hansom cab....
  
  : horse-drawn, public

• funeral coach: hearse
  Hearse
  A hearse is a funerary vehicle used to carry a coffin from a church or funeral home to a cemetery. In the funeral trade, hearses are often called funeral coaches.-History:...
  
  

• hack or hackney
  Hackney carriage
  A hackney or hackney carriage is a carriage or automobile for hire...
  
  : let for hire
  • hackney coach or jarvey: used as a hackney carriage; especially, one with four wheels, drawn by two horses, seats for six persons
  • fiacre: small

• rumble-tumble: heavy, moves with a deep rumbling sound

• stagecoach
  Stagecoach
  A stagecoach is a type of covered wagon for passengers and goods, strongly sprung and drawn by four horses, usually four-in-hand. Widely used before the introduction of railway transport, it made regular trips between stages or stations, which were places of rest provided for stagecoach travelers...
  
  : heavy, usually four-in-hand, closed; formerly made regular trips between stations, carrying passengers and goods
  • mail coach
    Mail coach
    In Great Britain, the mail coach or post coach was a horse-drawn carriage that carried mail deliveries, from 1784. In Ireland, the first mail coach began service from Dublin in 1789. The coach was drawn by four horses and had seating for four passengers inside. Further passengers were later allowed...
    
    or post coach: used for carrying the mails
  • mud wagon: lighter and smaller than the Concord coach, flat sides, simpler joinery
  • road coach: revived in England
    England
    England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
    
     during the last half of the 19th century

• tally-ho: a four-in-hand (the Tally-ho was the name of a coach that once plied between London
  London
  London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
  
   and Birmingham
  Birmingham
  Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
  
  )

• whirlicote: heavy, luxurious

A coach of state is used to convey persons in state. The principal ceremonial coaches in the United Kingdom are the Gold State Coach

Gold State Coach

The Gold State Coach is an enclosed, eight horse-drawn carriage used by the British Royal Family. It was built in the London workshops of Samuel Butler in 1762 and has been used at the coronation of every British monarch since George IV...

, Irish State Coach

Irish State Coach

The Irish State Coach is an enclosed, four-horse-drawn carriage used by the British Royal Family. It is the traditional horse-drawn coach in which the British monarch travels from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster to formally open the new legislative session of the UK Parliament.The...

and Scottish State Coach

Scottish State Coach

The Scottish State Coach is an enclosed, four horse-drawn carriage used by the British Royal Family.The coach was built in 1830 for Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and his family used it for many years until they sold it to William Keppel, 7th Earl of Albemarle, who converted it into a...

.

Coach miscellany

The business of a coachman (or coachee, formerly coacher) was to drive a coach. He was also called a jarvey or jarvie, especially in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 (Jarvey was a nickname for Jarvis

Jarvis

Jarvis is a surname and, less frequently, a male given name.* Ann Jarvis , social activist, founder of Mother's day holiday.* Anna Jarvis , daughter of Ann Jarvis.* Jarvis Cocker Jarvis is a surname and, less frequently, a male given name.* Ann Jarvis (1832 - 1905), social activist, founder of...

). If he drove dangerously fast or recklessly he was a jehu (from Jehu

Jehu

Jehu was a king of Israel. He was the son of Jehoshaphat, and grandson of Nimshi.William F. Albright has dated his reign to 842-815 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 841-814 BC...

, king of Israel

History of ancient Israel and Judah

Israel and Judah were related Iron Age kingdoms of ancient Palestine. The earliest known reference to the name Israel in archaeological records is in the Merneptah stele, an Egyptian record of c. 1209 BCE. By the 9th century BCE the Kingdom of Israel had emerged as an important local power before...

, who was noted for his furious attacks in a chariot

Chariot

The chariot is a type of horse carriage used in both peace and war as the chief vehicle of many ancient peoples. Ox carts, proto-chariots, were built by the Proto-Indo-Europeans and also built in Mesopotamia as early as 3000 BC. The original horse chariot was a fast, light, open, two wheeled...

 (2 Kings

Books of Kings

The Book of Kings presents a narrative history of ancient Israel and Judah from the death of David to the release of his successor Jehoiachin from imprisonment in Babylon, a period of some 400 years...

 9:20), or a Phaeton (from Greek Phaëton

Phaëton

In Greek mythology, Phaëton or Phaethon was the son of Helios and the Oceanid Clymene. Alternate, less common genealogies make him a son of Clymenus by Merope, of Helios and Rhode or of Helios and Prote....

, son of Helios

Helios

Helios was the personification of the Sun in Greek mythology. Homer often calls him simply Titan or Hyperion, while Hesiod and the Homeric Hymn separate him as a son of the Titans Hyperion and Theia or Euryphaessa and brother of the goddesses Selene, the moon, and Eos, the dawn...

, who attempted to drive the chariot of the sun but managed to set the earth on fire). A postilion or postillion sometimes rode as a guide on the near horse of a pair or of one of the pairs attached to a coach, especially when there was no coachman. A guard on a horse-drawn coach was called a shooter.
Traveling by coach, or pleasure driving in a coach, as in a tally-ho, was called coaching. In driving a coach, the coachman used a coachwhip, usually provided with a long lash. Coachmen and coach passengers might have worn a box coat, a heavy overcoat with or without shoulder capes, used by coachmen riding on the box seat exposed to all kinds of weather. A hammercloth, ornamented and often fringed, sometimes hung over the coachman's seat, especially on a ceremonial coach.

A coach horse or coacher is used or adapted for drawing a coach, as it is typically heavier and of more compact build than a road horse, and exhibits good style and action. Breeds include:

• Breton
  Breton (horse)
  The Breton is a breed of draft horse. It was developed in Brittany, a province in northwest France, from native ancestral stock dating back thousands of years. The Breton was created through the crossbreeding of many different European and Oriental breeds. In 1909, a stud book was created, and in...
  
  : heavy, French, for draft or meat

• German coach: large, rather coarse, heavy draft horse
  Draft horse
  A draft horse , draught horse or dray horse , less often called a work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred for hard, heavy tasks such as ploughing and farm labour...
  
   or harness horse; bay, brown or black in color

• Hanoverian
  Hanoverian (horse)
  A Hanoverian is a warmblood horse originating in Germany, which is often seen in the Olympic Games and other competitive English riding styles, and have won gold medals in all three equestrian Olympic competitions. It is one of the oldest, most numerous, and most successful of the warmbloods...
  
  : developed by crossing heavy cold-blooded German horses with Thoroughbreds

• Holstein
  Holstein (horse)
  The Holsteiner is a breed of horse originating in the Schleswig-Holstein region of northern Germany. It is thought to be the oldest of warmblood breeds, tracing back to the 13th century...
  
  : German, heavyweight, for riding and dressage, initially a carriage horse; bay, black or brown. Called also Holsteiner, Warmblut, Warmblood.

• Yorkshire Coach Horse
  Yorkshire Coach Horse
  The Yorkshire Coach Horse is an extinct horse breed once native to England. It was a large, strong, bay or brown horse with dark legs, mane and tail...
  
  : large, strong, bay or brown; dark legs, mane and tail; belongs to an English breed derived largely from the Cleveland Bay
  Cleveland Bay
  The Cleveland Bay is a breed of horse that originated in England during the 17th century, named after its colouring and the Cleveland district of Yorkshire. It is a well-muscled horse, with legs that are strong but short in relation to the body. The horses are always bay in colour, although a...
  
  

Sometimes an extra horse, called a cockhorse, was led behind a coach so that it could be hitched before the regular team to assist in passing over steep or difficult terrain.

The Dalmatian

Dalmatian (dog)

The Dalmatian is a breed of dog whose roots are often said to trace back to Dalmatia, a region of Croatia where the first illustrations of the dog have been found. The Dalmatian is noted for its unique black- or brown-spotted coat and was mainly used as a carriage dog in its early days...

 is also known as a coach dog or carriage dog, because it was formerly used to run in attendance on a coach.

A coach house was a building for keeping a private carriage

Carriage

A carriage is a wheeled vehicle for people, usually horse-drawn; litters and sedan chairs are excluded, since they are wheelless vehicles. The carriage is especially designed for private passenger use and for comfort or elegance, though some are also used to transport goods. It may be light,...

 in and it often also included stabling for the horses and accommodation for coachman, groom

Groom (horses)

A groom is a person who is responsible for some or all aspects of the management of horses and/or the care of the stables themselves. The term most often refers to a person who is the employee of a stable owner, but even an owner of a horse may perform the duties of a groom, particularly if the...

 or other servants; it was usually an outbuilding on an estate or adjacent to a large house. A coaching inn

Coaching inn

In Europe, from approximately the mid-17th century for a period of about 200 years, the coaching inn, sometimes called a coaching house or staging inn, was a vital part of the inland transport infrastructure, as an inn serving coach travelers...

, also called coaching house, located along a route followed by horse-drawn coaches, served coach travelers and offered stabling for the horses of stagecoaches and a place to change horses.

External links

• Belgian coach museum in Bree
• Coach - LoveToKnow 1911. 1911 Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica.
• Coaches 1750 to 1900. History Learning Site.
• The Coaches: 'Travellers in Eighteenth-Century England'. Civilization defined and explained in plain English: Library of mainly eighteenth century authors by P.Atkinson.
• Coaching History. By Anne Woodley. Also Coaching Accidents, Coaching Anecdotes and A selection of Georgian Coaches
• Coachman Driven Vehicles. Carriage Museum Of America.
• H3875 Horse drawn coach, mail and passenger coach, timber / metal / leather, made by Cobb and Co. Coach and Buggy Factory, Charleville, Queensland, Australia, 1890 - Powerhouse Museum Collection. Powerhouse Museum | Science + Design | Sydney Australia.
• The History of Coaching--Travelling in Old England--The First Coaches Introduced of The Mail-Coach System--Amateur Coachmen in the Olden Time--Early Coaching Parades--The Dangers of the Road--Highwaymen and Reckless Drivers. The New York Times, May 5, 1878, page 10.
• Col. Delancey Kane and "The Pelham Coach". Historic Pelham.
• Landscape Property|Regency|Georgian|history|lifestyle|house | Going By Coach. Jane Austen Centre Bath UK England.
• Some Coaching Costumes by Marie Weldon, The New York Times, Magazine Supplement, page SM4.