The driver of a horse-drawn coach is known as a coachman. Coaches were essential modes of transportation both within and between cities in the days before automobiles. Driving them required a unique skill set, and the driver played an important role in society at the time. Prior to the twentieth century, coachmen were also prominent in fiction and mythology. Travel by horse-drawn coach is still possible in modern times, albeit as a romantic novelty.
For thousands of years, horse-drawn wheeled vehicles have been used all over the world. A new design in 15th-century Hungary made these carriages faster and more comfortable, and they were dubbed coaches after the Hungarian town of Kocs. Towns like Kocs served as rest stops for those traveling long distances by coach; these rest stops were referred to as stages, which gave rise to the term stagecoach. Travelers in Europe could rent a public coach for short or long trips by the 18th century. Carriage folk were a term used to describe wealthy families who could afford to hire a private coachman.
The coachman, like a modern taxi or bus driver, had a specialized skill set. Despite coming from a poor and uneducated background, he held a unique position in society due to his important role in commerce, travel, and even mail delivery, often working directly with the wealthy upper classes. Carriage racing is still a sport today because some coachmen took pride in their service’s speed. With the introduction of trains and automobiles, the coachman’s importance began to wane. Horse-drawn carriages, now commonly referred to as carriages to differentiate them from buses, are still available for hire in major cities, public parks, and Renaissance festivals.
In England and Europe, the term “coachman” was commonly used. The driver of a stagecoach in America was known as a stage driver. Other terms, such as jarvey, coachee, or simply driver, have been used in different parts of the world. Carriage driver is a term used by modern coach companies to refer to people of either gender.
The sun was viewed as a cosmic coachman, driving a fiery chariot across the sky, by ancient cultures such as the Greeks and Hindus. The coachman was frequently depicted in pre-industrial European popular literature, sometimes as a victim of highwaymen who targeted coaches in remote areas. The coachman in Pinocchio’s story is a sinister figure who kidnaps misbehaving boys in order to turn them into donkeys and sell them into slavery. A coachman named John Netley is the sole accomplice to Jack the Ripper’s crimes in Alan Moore’s graphic novel From Hell. This character was based on a real carriage driver who lived in Victorian England and appears in other Jack the Ripper stories.