Postillion

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This English etching from 1793 shows a postilion guiding the two front horses. The rear horses are controlled by a coachman

A postilion (or postillion, occasionally Anglicized to "post-boy"^[1]) rider was the driver of a horse-drawn coach or post chaise, mounted on one of the drawing horses.^[2] By contrast, a coachman would be mounted on the vehicle along with the passengers.

Postilion riders normally rode the left (or "near") horse of a pair because horses usually were trained only to be mounted from the left.^[3][4] With a double team, either there would be two postilions, one for each pair,^[5] or one postilion would ride on the left rear horse in order to control all four horses.

This style of travel was known as "posting",^[6]. The postilions and their horses (known as "post-horses")^[7] would be hired from a "postmaster" at a "post house".^[1] The carriage would travel from one post house to the next (a journey known as a "stage"), where the postilions and/or horses could be replaced if necessary.^[1] Posting was once common both in England and in continental Europe.^[8] In England, however, it declined once railways became an alternative method of transport.^[1] It remained popular in France and other countries.

[edit] See also

• Le postillon de Lonjumeau, an 1836 French comic opera by Adolphe Adam.
• "My postillion has been struck by lightning". A comical phrase supposedly found in old-fashioned foreign language phrase books.

[edit] References

[edit] Bibliography

• Rogers, Fairman (1900). A Manual of Coaching. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company. OCLC 6478019. 

[edit] External links

• Postillions for Coaches. By Anne Woodley.

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