Grooms,
Coachmen, Stable-boys and Blacksmiths
Horses,
Carriages, Grooms and Coachmen at Emo
Grooms,
Coachmen, Stable-boys and Blacksmiths
Horses were a
familiar part of life at
The 6th Earl of Portarlington playing polo
in the
(Lady’s Pictorial, Feb.7th 1914)
The job of the
groom was to feed, ‘groom’, and exercise the horses, and if there was no
separate coachman, to drive and maintain the carriage. Each groom was
responsible for a single vehicle and its horse(s), and was usually helped by a
stable-boy. The groom was expected to know all about the care of horses, from
grooming and training to basic veterinary medicine. He was also expected to
teach the children of the family to ride, which they learnt to do from a very
young age.
Advertisement for a groom,
The groom’s day
began early, usually at
Each horse was combed with a ‘curry-comb’
(to loosen the dirt and
dust),
‘wisped’ with straw or a dead horse’s tail (to remove the dirt), brushed with
a whalebone brush until his coat shone, ‘wisped’ again and then rubbed down
with a clean cloth. The horse’s ears, eyes and nose were cleaned with a damp
sponge, the tail and mane combed, and the hooves oiled until they shone. Diligent
grooms repeated the whole process later in the day, to ensure the horses looked
their best if
The groom also had
to store and maintain the saddles, bridles, stirrups and other bits of harness,
and clean each piece after use. If a vehicle had been used, the groom cleaned
that too. His day usually finished after
In the early 19th
century, while stable-boys might earn as little as ₤6-₤8, the
recommended wage for grooms was ₤22-₤25, along with two suits of
livery and two stable dresses every year.
Large establishments
usually had a specialised coachman whose sole responsibility was to drive the
carriages and keep them in good repair. A good coachman was expected to command
his horses with the lightest touch on the reins, and to drive smoothly and not
too quickly. Mrs Beeton recommended a moderate pace
of seven or eight miles per hour, as a slower pace encouraged laziness in
horses. Coachmen and grooms were expected to have the carriage ready for the
road within twenty minutes of being asked, although the process of cleaning the
horses, harness and carriage could in fact take two to three hours.
When cleaning the
carriage, the coachman also had to polish the brass fittings, clean the windows,
brush down the upholstery, and grease the wheels. Before setting out, the
master gave orders as to his destination and the direction he wished the horses
to face, as turning the carriage in the street was a sign of a badly managed
household. Upon arrival at their destination, the coachman assumed the
responsibilities of groom. Where two coachmen were kept, the second coachman
did the night work, transporting the family to and from the ball, dinner or
dance.
Large houses kept
an array of different carriages, each of which was used for different occasions.
The main vehicle was the covered coach, which could accommodate 4-6 people
and had a top that could be lowered in fine weather. Smaller lightweight carriages,
such as traps or ‘gigs’, were also used - it was in such a carriage that the
governess might travel, for example. The private coach was used for long journeys
and in bad weather, when two footmen, perfectly matched in height, sat in
the rear, while a third more senior footman (should the family have three),
kept the coachman company at the front.
The coachman, unlike his passengers, was
constantly exposed to the elements, and on cold, wet winter nights his job
cannot have been too pleasurable. He typically wore a long box-coat with
highly-polished buttons, a tall hat, and fingerless mittens to protect him from
the cold.
A good head coachman
was held in high esteem and was sometimes left money in his employer’s will.
The 3rd Earl of Portarlington left his former coachman, John Smith,
an annuity of ₤20 per annum for life, while the 5th Earl left his head coachman,
Robert Scott, a sum of ₤50.
Horses, Carriages, Grooms
and Coachmen at
In the 1900
inventory of
A few years later,
when Viscount Carlow was growing up, there was only one groom at
“I
remember the blue felt cushions, the perforated rubber mat on the floor, the
varnished wicker basket which hung outside and held an umbrella, and how we had
to get out and walk when we came to steep hills.”
The estate blacksmith
attended to the paring of horses’ hooves and the fitting of new shoes. In the
early 1900s, the local blacksmith at Emo was a man named James Whelan. His son
Joseph was also a blacksmith, while another son, James, was a saddler. They
lived in a small cottage with a forge and a stable attached. The workmen’s
wages books from
William Lawlor,
farrier, at work at
Horse Riding
Horse riding was a
very popular pursuit on country estates and the children of the aristocracy
were taught to ride from a very early age. In his diary, written in the early
20th century, Viscount Carlow remembers his first unsuccessful
attempts at horse-riding, on a rather vigorous horse named ‘Dot’. When the
groom led the horse to the front of the house, “its shifty expression
materialised into savage and well aimed kicks directed at the crowd of
attendant admirers.” Perhaps not surprisingly, the young Viscount’s attempts to
ride this wild beast resulted in his being thrown to the ground in floods of
tears, as his nanny rushed to his aid!
Once the children had learnt to ride, however, horse riding usually
became a life-long pursuit and opened up a world of polo, hunting and other
equine pastimes.