Horse traction in Victorian London

Journal of Transport History, The, Sep 2005 by Turvey, Ralph

The first point to note about the rapid rise in horse prices from 1870 to 1876, as evidenced by these London data, is that part of it reflected a general rise in prices. In many cases the peak year was 1873, rather than 1876. Certainly Feinstein's revised cost of living index fell after 1873, after rising by 8 per cent from 1870,52 although Wood's index of average money wages continued to rise until 1876, when it exceeded its 1870 value by 14 per cent.53 Even by 1873, however, horse prices had increased by as much as 50 per cent since 1870, and they continued to rise to 160 per cent of their 1870 level by 1876. Therefore we can say that factors specific to the horse market were at work.

Confirmation of the extreme rapidity of the rise in horse prices in the early 187Os is provided by many of the witnesses who appeared before the House of Lords Select Committee on Horses in 1873. Indeed, it was the alarming rise in prices which stimulated the appointment of the committee. Edward Greene, MP, told the committee that Tickford type' horses had been priced at between £35 and £40 twelve months earlier but now, in March 1873, they were between £45 and £65, while cart horses at the spring fair had risen by £20 from £45.

The committee was able to articulate an explanation for the rise in horse prices. Noting that there were no data on total horse stock, it asked many witnesses whether there were fewer or more horses than before, and discovered that there were no fewer (except for breeding mares) but that nevertheless there was a scarcity. It regarded the following as the causes of the deficient supply:

(1) The exportation of mares to foreign countries;

(2) The increased profits on sheep and cattle, which, being more certain and more rapidly realised, are doubly attractive to the farmer, as compared with those obtained by breeding horses;

(3) The increased demand consequent upon a multiplication of population and wealth which, together with a decline of breeding in many parts of the country, produces a relative if not an absolute scarcity.

There were also minor causes, such as the consolidation of smallholdings into large farms, and the export of horses during the Franco-Prussian War (1870).54

A typical well informed witness before the committee was Joshua East, dealer, contractor and jobmaster. He told the committee that he couldn't get four-year-olds, as dealers bought them all for sale to gentlemen. Foreign dealers bought four and five-year-olds, mainly mares. Agents for foreigners would 'give a sovereign a horse to you for finding out about the mares'. The present shortage was because breeding was less profitable than it was: beef and mutton paid better than before and foreigners had bought all the best mares. He used to buy all his horses in Yorkshire; but now had to buy largely from Ireland, whereas hitherto the only Irish horses were those brought over by Irish dealers. He had tried buying German horses, since the Germans had bought many fine English mares, but German horses were extremely unsatisfactory in his view, though many of the harnessed horses seen in London were German. He used to send enormous number of horses to Paris, but no longer did so.