Ancestor History – The car versus horsepower

Just recently my lovely car broke down rather drastically, and I’ve had to go through the stress and hassle of getting rid of it and getting another one.  It got me thinking about life before the automobile, and whether things were that much different for our ancestors before the invention of the combustion engine.

I think that many of us probably hold a rather romantic view of the days of the horse and carriage.  It sounds like a much simpler, stress-free, slower way of life.  But how different was it really to today? This is just a light-hearted look at the difference between running car today, and running a horse and/or carriage in the 19th century or earlier.

Traffic Volume We complain of the amount of traffic today – but things were just as bad back in the 1890s, as the above photograph testifies, especially in the cities.  Like today, the more urban the area, the more traffic there was, and traffic jams were a continual problem.

Noise Another thing we might complain about in today’s modern world, is the noise of traffic.  But can you imagine a busy London street with the constant noise of horses’ hooves, the wheels of carriages on cobbles and the shouts (and cursing) of cab and carriage drivers?

Breakdowns We might be the ones cursing when our own cars break down (as I was on a dark, busy road a few days ago…) but when you were reliant on a horse, there was always the possibility of it getting sick, going lame or losing a shoe – or your carriage or cart might lose a wheel.  The garage services that are ubiquitous in almost every village today are the equivalent of the village blacksmith before the 20th century.

Maintenance With a car, you really only need to feed it petrol and water when it’s in use, and clean it when it gets dirty. With a horse you have to feed, water and exercise it daily, and it will also need regular grooming, as well as general care and attention (of course, some of us also stroke and talk to our cars – but that’s another story…)

EmissionsOK – you probably know where I’m going with this. Perhaps what comes out of a horse at the other end is more useful than the exhaust from a car – but can you imagine the amount of manure that must have been a constant problem on the streets of the cities? It must have kept street cleaners busy and must have added to the general mixture of smells of the 19th century urban district too!

SafetyIn this respect, we do have better safety systems – though what the difference in statistics are I can’t say. In the days of the horse, there were all kinds of dangers. A horse could fall, or shy and throw its rider, a carriage could overturn on those untarmacced roads, and street accidents, with pedestrians being knocked down by a horse, or falling under the wheels of a wagon, were fairly common. I’d be interested to know what the comparison statistics are, if there are any, so please leave a comment if you know!

Speed Well, I admit that if you’re driving anywhere other than a city (or the M25, or the M6 around Birmingham…), you’re probably going a few MPH faster than your average horse. But I very much doubt whether the traffic of big cities today is going that much faster than it was 150 years ago.

My point is, really, that if you live in an urban area, the only improvements we’ve made since the horse and carriage is in terms of comfort. We have heating systems, comfortable seats, radios & CD players, security and air bags, but the general upkeep and expense probably hasn’t changed that much in real terms!

So the next time you are cursing at your car, or the cost of petrol, remember that your ancestors were probably doing something similar – (though I do hope they were nice to the horse!)

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