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Cobb & Co - 'Ships of the Road'

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Hugh Cassidy 'King Cobb'

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TitleHugh Cassidy 'King Cobb'DescriptionHugh Cassidy was a dapper little man from Ireland, always immaculately dressed, with a flower in his buttonhole. He took on the mantle of ‘King Cobb’ of the coaching business and operated the run for more than 50 years during the most dramatic days of travel between Canterbury and the West Coast.
In 1873, he bought Mitchell and Burton’s Cobb and Co Company service to the West Coast, and soon secured (and held until the end), the vital mail contract, initially worth 700 pounds. The service was based on his farm, Busby Park, on Frasers Road, Springfield, where the horses were bred, broken and spelled. He had at least a hundred, with 70 in work at any given time, spread among the coaching stables along the route. Cassidy also had a large grain store on the section later occupied by the Presbyterian Church, after the building was moved to Busby Park. He married Annie Mary Keane, a daughter of Michael Keane, owner of the Springfield Hotel who, through Cassidy, obtained Mountain View farm at Springfield. This was one of the earliest farm freeholds in the district, being bought in the 1850s by R.Hall and soon taken over by J.T Fisher. Cassidy’s generosity made possible the opening, in 1906, of the Springfield Roman Catholic Church. Les Miliken used to ride through Springfield with a horse on its hind legs. Cassidy was greatly taken with this and wanted the animal. He was never keen to pay in cash and often offered chaff, though he would say: ‘I’ll give you two tons of chiff.’ Three of his best-known drivers were, in the later days, Sam Eastgate, Joe Searle and ‘Jimmy the Rat’. A partner of Cassidy’s, Binnie, had a farm, still known as Binnie’s, about a mile west of the township. Cassidy’s first terminus was at the Clarendon Hotel. The Hokitika coach left at 8am, reached Springfield at 11.15am for lunch, the Bealey about 7.30pm for an overnight stop and completed the journey to Hokitika over Arthur’s Pass late the following afternoon. At one stage, Cassidy had a good gig horse. George Rutherford, of Dalethorpe, would intercept him on the road, and they would race. Cassidy’s favourite meal at the pub was ‘spuds baked in their jackets’. He died in June 1922, a little more than a year before the opening of the Otira railway tunnel put his coaches out of business.

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CollectionTaverns and HotelsPlaceSpringfieldNarrativeCobb & Co - 'Ships of the Road'

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Written ByRay Dobbie and Brian PerrinTaken FromIn the Shadow of the Alps: A History of Malvern County

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Hugh Cassidy 'King Cobb'