Images(6)

Stagecoach Defiance 6 Photographs

AssociatedAssociated with Beach Baths (Aberdeen Scotland, 1898 - 1972)

AssociatedAssociated with Defiance (19th Century Stage Coach)

Datec. 1890s

Object NamePhotograph

Mediumpaper and card

ClassificationsPost Office

DimensionsOverall: Height: 10.3 cm, Width: 8 cm
Album: Height: 15 cm, Width: 12.5 cm

AcquisitionPresented in 1977 by Mr J S Simmers.

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDMS017652

Keywords

About MeThe Aberdeen to Inverness stagecoach the Defiance with passengers apparently dressed for an unidentified pageant. Coaches such as this were capable of carrying four passengers inside and as many as twelve outside. Speed could be in the region of eight to ten miles an hour. The Aberdeen to Inverness run would normally take something like twelve hours in good conditions. In 1854 the Defiance was running between Aberdeen and Huntly, leaving the city at 11 in the morning, arriving Huntly at 8 in the evening. In the year that the railway first reached Aberdeen, 1850, there were 10 stage coaches and 8 mail coaches and gigs listed in Aberdeen Almanack as running out of the city. Ten years later this had reduced to 7 coaches and 4 gigs. Goods and passengers could be carried at a more leisurely pace and certainly cheaper using one of the hundreds of carriers in the area. The railway did largely kill off the longer carrier runs but in areas which sat between lines carriers were able to continue and even expand their businesses. Mail was carried by the GNSR from the earliest days and in 1859 the Post Office went so far as to put a sorter on the Aberdeen-Keith train.