Stanhope refers to the Stanhope Gig, one of several English
carriage
A carriage is a two- or four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle for passengers. In Europe they were a common mode of transport for the wealthy during the Roman Empire, and then again from around 1600 until they were replaced by the motor car around 1 ...
s named after its designer the Hon. Fitzroy Stanhope, a sportsman.
Overview
Stanhope designed several carriages, each bearing his name as was typical of the time period, and built by the London
coachbuilder
A coachbuilder manufactures bodies for passenger-carrying vehicles.
The trade of producing coachwork began with bodies for horse-drawn vehicles. Today it includes custom automobiles, buses, Coach (bus), motor coaches, and passenger car (rai ...
Tilbury. The first design, the Stanhope Gig built in the 1810s, was a
gig with a storage boot under the seat, a crosswise seat for two, no hood or top, bent shafts reinforced with ironwork, and four springs.The next design was the Stanhope Buggy, an
English buggy which is basically a lighter weight gig with a falling hood. He also designed the Stanhope Phaeton, a lightweight four-wheeled
Phaeton carriage with two crosswise seats, a falling hood over the front seat, and the rear seat was for a servant or
liveried groom. The shortened form "Stanhope" refers to the gig style, which by 1830 was the most common two-wheeled carriage seen around London. Many modern gigs are designed around the original Stanhope.
The Stanhope Gig's new spring design consisted of "four springs, two side and two cross, forming a square; these supported the body of the vehicle". The Stanhope springs configuration was used on many gigs and carriages. Fitzroy Stanhope also designed the
Tilbury gig, this time named after the builder, which omitted the storage boot and had a seven-spring configuration.
File:310815Tandem-Stanhope-Gig-1901030Geert-Bongers.jpg, Stanhope Gig
File:310815Stanhope-Gig-1900059Bert-de-Mooij.jpg, Stanhope Buggy
File:Design for Demi Mail or Stanhope Phaeton, no. 3980 MET DP882446.jpg, Stanhope Phaeton
See also
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Tilbury (carriage)
A tilbury is a light, open, two-wheeler, two-wheeled carriage, with or without a top, developed in the early 19th century by the London firm of Tilbury, coachbuilders in Mount Street, LondonAt South Street, London in about 1820 according to Walrond ...
*
Stanhope (car), an early auto body
Notes
References
Further reading
Stanhope gig, wood, maker unknown, England, c 1862 – Powerhouse Museum(Australia)
Carriage Association of America
The Carriage Association of America (CAA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the history and traditions of carriage driving, and the preservation and restoration of horse-drawn carriages and sleighs. It is headquartered at the Kentucky Ho ...
.
{{Horse-drawn carriages
Carriages