van driver in the 1800's???.....

lookinforlaird · Post by **lookinforlaird** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 9:06 pm

Hello to all,
I was curious as to what kind of "van" a "van driver" in the 1800's drove.
My great grandfather, John Gilchrist, was listed as a "van driver" on his marriage certificate. Now I know there were no cars much less vans booting around Scotland in the late 1800's so would this be a horse and buggy? Does anyone have any ideas?
Nancy

Russell · Post by **Russell** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 9:56 pm

Hi Nancy

It would certainly be a horse drawn van.
As late as the 1940's I used to watch the horse drawn carts come in to their stables in the evening when I was visiting my grandparents house - in the middle of Edinburgh!!!
If you can imagina a furniture van drawn by three or four horses -that was the largest of them. Smaller vans would have an open drivers seat above the shafts with a roof which partially covered the seat and in bad weather he had a tarpaulin which could be pulled over his knees so that at least his legs were dry. They used small vans for bakers, grocers fruit and veg deliveries and they had double doors at the back just as the motorised variety have now.
The driver couldn't just park his van at the end of the day. He still had to make sure his horse was watered, fed and rubbed down, then check the harness before he could go home for his meal.
I'm glad I'm old enough to remember giving the horses carrots as a treat when I wa small, and how gentle they always were!

Russell