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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Claire64 on Saturday 27 July 19 22:18 BST (UK)
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Can't seem to find an answer to this. Would a stagecoach driver (Sheffield to Manchester, passenger coach) have carried a shotgun in the 1840s? I have read that he did, but is this true? All my searches seem to throw up the Wild West and Riding Shotgun and highwaymen. Sometimes I spend too much time on the small details, but I have a very inquiring mind!!
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Look for a copy of ‘The Royal Mail’ by J. Wilson Hyde.
You should find a free digital copy on line, it is over 400 pages so takes a while to download, it is full of fascinating information about the stagecoaches etc.
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found it, thanks! Looks an interesting read.
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In "Stage and Mail Coaches" by David Mountfield, he says that "it seem likely that mail guards used their firearms more often against rabbits or pheasants , or even stray chickens than against highwaymen". There is also an illustration of a mail-coach guard with some of his equipment, including pistols and blunderbuss.
Stan
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They certainly had firearms in 1828; I've a diary which recounts various trips on the stagecoaches and he mentions the driver taking pot-shots at something once ::)
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In "Stage and Mail Coaches" by David Mountfield, he says that "it seem likely that mail guards used their firearms more often against rabbits or pheasants , or even stray chickens than against highwaymen". There is also an illustration of a mail-coach guard with some of his equipment, including pistols and blunderbuss.
Stan
That makes a lot of sense!