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US Ambassador to Sweden Mark Brzezinski presents his credentials to the King at the Royal Palace Nov

A brougham was a light, four-wheeled horse-drawn

carriage A carriage is a private four-wheeled vehicle for people and is most commonly horse-drawn. Second-hand private carriages were common public transport, the equivalent of modern cars used as taxis. Carriage suspensions are by leather strapping an ...

built in the 19th century.The ''

OED The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the first and foundational historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP). It traces the historical development of the English language, providing a co ...

'' gives a first usage in 1851, but the original design dates from about 1838, according to the

Encyclopædia Britannica The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various time ...

. Brougham died in 1868. It was named after the politician and jurist

Lord Brougham Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux, (; 19 September 1778 – 7 May 1868) was a British statesman who became Lord High Chancellor and played a prominent role in passing the 1832 Reform Act and 1833 Slavery Abolition Act. ...

, who had this type of carriage built to his specification by London coachbuilder Robinson & Cook in 1838 or 1839. It had an enclosed body with two doors, like the rear section of a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

; it sat two, sometimes with an extra pair of fold-away seats in the front corners, and with a box seat in front for the driver and a

footman A footman is a male domestic worker employed mainly to wait at table or attend a coach or carriage. Etymology Originally in the 14th century a footman denoted a soldier or any pedestrian, later it indicated a foot servant. A running footman deli ...

or passenger. Unlike a coach, the carriage had a glazed front window, so that the occupants could see forward. The forewheels were capable of turning sharply. A variant, called a brougham-landaulet, had a top collapsible from the rear doors backward.Compare the

landau Landau ( pfl, Landach), officially Landau in der Pfalz, is an autonomous (''kreisfrei'') town surrounded by the Südliche Weinstraße ("Southern Wine Route") district of southern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is a university town (since 1990 ...

. Four features specific to the Brougham were: # the absence of a perch - the spring hangers were mounted directly to the body structure, saving weight and lowering the floor, to ease entry # the sharply squared end of the roof at the back, # the body line curving forward at the base of the enclosure, and # low entry to the enclosure, using only one outside step below the door.

In popular culture

Broughams are a common means of transport in the

Sherlock Holmes Sherlock Holmes () is a fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a " consulting detective" in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science and ...

stories.

The Picture of Dorian Gray ''The Picture of Dorian Gray'' is a philosophical fiction, philosophical novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde. A shorter novella-length version was published in the July 1890 issue of the American periodical ''Lippincott's Monthly Magazine''.''Th ...

by Oscar Wilde mentions the brougham alongside a number of other carriage vehicles of the era, such as the omnibus, the

hansom cab The hansom cab is a kind of horse-drawn carriage designed and patented in 1834 by Joseph Hansom, an architect from York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, ...

, the

four-in-hand The four-in-hand knot is a method of tying a necktie. It is also known as a simple knot or schoolboy knot, due to its simplicity and style. Some reports state that carriage drivers tied their reins with a four-in-hand knot, while others claim ...

, and the

victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. In

L. P. Hartley Leslie Poles Hartley (30 December 1895 – 13 December 1972) was a British novelist and short story writer. Although his first fiction was published in 1924, his career was slow to take off. His best-known novels are the '' Eustace and Hilda'' ...

's novel '' The Go Between'' a brougham is sent to fetch the character Marian (chapter 23, p.274 st ed.. In the book ''

The Alienist ''The Alienist'' is a crime novel by Caleb Carr first published in 1994 and is the first book in the Kreizler series. It takes place in New York City in 1896, and includes appearances by many famous figures of New York society in that era, inc ...

'' by Caleb Carr, a frequently used mode of transportation for the characters is a brougham. In

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English novelist, short-story writer, poet, and journalist. He was born in British India, which inspired much of his work. ...

's poem "

The Mary Gloster "The ''Mary Gloster''" is a poem by British writer Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936). It is dated 1894, but seems to have been first published in his 1896 collection '' The Seven Seas''. It is a deathbed monologue by a wealthy shipowner and shipbuil ...

", the dying Sir Anthony complains bitterly to his son about never seeing "the doctor's trusty brougham to help the missus unload" – a reference to the effete Dickie's childless marriage and hence the extinction of his family. In the novel ''

The Crimson Petal and the White ''The Crimson Petal and the White'' is a 2002 novel by Michel Faber set in Victorian England. The title is from an 1847 poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson entitled " Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal", the opening line of which is "Now sleeps the cri ...

'', by

Michel Faber Michel Faber (born 13 April 1960) is a Dutch-born writer of English-language fiction, including his 2002 novel ''The Crimson Petal and the White''. His latest book is a novel for young adults, ''D—A Tale of Two Worlds, D: A Tale of Two Worlds'' ...

, William Rackham purchases a brougham as a surprise gift for his wife, Agnes Rackham, with the help of his beautiful mistress, a former prostitute known as Sugar.

Footnotes

Notes

References

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External links

{{Commons category, Brougham carriages
1871 Advertisement for William Kilross & Sons and Kinross Brougham
Illustrations and text
CAAOnline: Carriage Tour
Carriage Association of America. Illustration and text

Henry Ford Museum The Henry Ford (also known as the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation and Greenfield Village, and as the Edison Institute) is a history museum complex in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, United States. The museum collection contains ...

Dearborn, Michigan Dearborn is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. At the 2020 census, it had a population of 109,976. Dearborn is the seventh most-populated city in Michigan and is home to the largest Muslim population in the United States pe ...

. Photo and text.
The Long Island Museum of American Art, History & Carriages
Stony Brook, New York: Collection Database. Search ''brougham''; illustrations and text.
Victorian Brougham carriage
an

TTM web. Texas Transportation Museum, San Antonio. Photos
Articles about Horse-drawn Carriages
Carriages

In popular culture

See also

Footnotes

Notes

References

External links