Driver of a horse-drawn passenger vehicle
Coachman, Boston MA 1902
Russian coachman, before 1917 ? his belt indicates his master's wealth
A
coachman
is an employee who drives a
coach
or carriage, a
horse-drawn vehicle
designed for the conveyance of passengers. A coachman has also been called a
coachee
,
coachy,
whip
, or
hackman
.
The coachman's first concern is to remain in full control of the horses (or other similar animals such as mules) and another employee, traditionally a
footman
, would accompany the coach to handle any circumstances beyond the coachman's control.
Swedish livery for footmen
Duties
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"Coachman" is correctly applied to the driver of any type of coach or carriage having an independent seat for the driver. If it is a public transport vehicle the owners might arrange things differently and a coachman may do no more than drive the vehicle. A private coachman reports directly to his employer or the employer's agent or factor and, being in command of the stables, the most important building after the house, is responsible for caring for and providing all the master's horses and carriages and related employees. Where necessary the coachman may delegate the driving of household vehicles but it is a primary duty to personally drive the employer. In a
great house
, this would have been a specialty, but in more modest households, the "coachman" would have doubled as the stablehand or
groom
. Even a head chauffeur with under-chauffeurs and mechanics held a much lesser position needing such a small staff and little capital.
Coachman, footman and landau carriage
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Coachman, footman on foot. The coach carries a splendid hammercloth
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Downtime, waiting for the master's return
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In early coaches he sat on a built-in compartment called a
boot
, bracing his feet on a footrest called a
footboard
. He was often pictured wearing a
box coat
or
box jacket
, a heavy
overcoat
with or without shoulder capes, double-breasted, with fitted waist and wide lapels; its name derives from its use by coachmen riding on the box seat, exposed to all kinds of weather. An ornamented, often fringed cloth called a
hammercloth
might have hung over the coachman's seat, especially of a ceremonial coach. He could be seen taking refreshments at a type of
public house
called a
watering house
, which also provided water for horses.
The role of the coachman, who sat on the vehicle, was contrasted with that of the
postillion
mounted directly on one of the drawing horses. On the grandest ceremonial occasions the coachman might escort a number of his postillions with his own horse.
Bynames
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A coachman was sometimes called a
jarvey
or
jarvie
, especially in
Ireland
; Jarvey was a nickname for Jarvis. In the first of his
Sherlock Holmes
stories,
A Study in Scarlet
,
Arthur Conan Doyle
refers to the driver of a small cab in London as a jarvey. A coachman who drove dangerously fast or recklessly might invoke biblical or mythological allusions: Some referred to him as a
jehu
, recalling King
Jehu
of
Israel
, who was noted for his furious attacks in a
chariot
(2
Kings
9:20) before he died about 816 BC. Others dubbed him a
Phaeton
, harking back to the Greek
Phaeton
, son of
Helios
who, attempting to drive the chariot of the sun, managed to set the earth on fire.
The driver of a
wagon
or
cart
drawn by a
draught animal
was known as
teamster
or
carter
.
Hungarian folklore
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The English word
coach
, the Spanish and Portuguese
coche
, the German
Kutsche
, the Slovak
ko?
and the Czech
ko?ar
all probably derive from the
Hungarian
word "kocsi", literally meaning "of Kocs".
[1]
Kocs
(pronounced "kotch") was a Hungarian post town, and the coach itself may have been developed in Hungary. Hungarian villages still hold Coachman of the Year competitions (similar to those held in Zakopane in Poland).
[2]
The coachman soon became a prominent figure in Hungarian folklore. As the Clever Coachman (tudos kocsis),
[3]
he turns up unexpectedly in the hero's life, either knowing his name or naming him by his true name. Many of
Steven Brust
's novels play with this image of the coachman.
A Russian coachman ("yamshik",
Russian
:
ямщик
) leaning on a whip-handle. A painting by
Vasily Tropinin
, circa 1820.
Other uses
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Coachman is also a synonym for the
pennant coralfish
(
Heniochus Monoceros
). The
Royal Coachman
is also a type of
fly
used for fly fishing, which exists as both a dry-fly and a wet-fly. The pattern was composed in England pre-1860.
References
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External links
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]
Media related to
Coachmen
at Wikimedia Commons
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Four-wheeled
carriages and coaches
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Two-wheeled
carriages and carts
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Non-wheeled
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Wagons &
drayage
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Vehicle construction
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Harness
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Related
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Categories
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‡ indicates vehicles that were used historically in public transport services
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