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Horse-drawn Coaches
Description
TitleHorse-drawn Coaches
DescriptionCOACHES AROUND ELLESMERE
880 words
When land was first purchased in Ellesmere, transport was very difficult and Christchurch was a lengthy journey. Unfortunately very few people wrote about their personal experiences but public coach proprietors advertised extensively and so more is known about that mode of transport.
Coaches were significant on the road between Southbridge, Leeston and Christchurch.
At one stage the fare was 15 shillings return, a large sum of money for a laborer and it is not known how many laborers would have caught the coach. For the cost of 3 return rides to Christchurch, a person could have bought an acre of land from the Government.
The delivery of newspapers, mail and parcels may have been a significant money earner as there was competition for mail runs.
In January 1866, Mr Bean , who lived in the Leeston area, conveyed passengers in a four-seater coach to Christchurch, through Doyleston, on Mondays and Fridays and returned the next day. He also carried the weekly Canterbury Times to subscribers along the route.
John Cowan, formerly a ploughman for Charles Bridge at Southbridge, was advertising his coach by May 1866. By July, Cowan was dropping off the Lyttleton Times enroute, and he had the mail contract in December. The Press was being delivered to the Creek Store by February 1867.
It is not known when Henry Theophilus Worsley, from Fendall Town, started his coach service, but he advertised a change in his schedule in June 1866. Thus by 1866 residents had two coaches passing through their town. Worsley was set back by a fire in his stables in September 1867 which killed two horses and destroyed harnesses and feed.
Cowan had a new 16-seat coach by December 1867 and a daily run had started. Worsley had the mail run by 1868. By May however, Worsley advertised to form a company and by July Brittin (or Brittan) & Co had taken over with the mail contract, daily leaving Southbridge at 7am and returning at 3pm. Cowan met this challenge by running a daily return coach and a morning coach three days a week. His new 30 seater coach was pulled by five horses and he was again carrying the mail.
The first stage of the Southern Railway linked Christchurch with Selwyn Village (at the SH1 bridge over the Selwyn River) with a fast service by 1867.
Thus it was possible to travel from Christchurch to an intermediate station by train and then complete the journey by coach to Leeston although other coaches still ran all the way from Christchurch to Leeston and Southbridge.
William Long & John Davis ran a coach from Leeston through Doyleston to Irwell then towards Brookside fording the Selwyn River and driving to the Burnham railway station in May 1870.
Three months later Joseph Hastings Doyle had taken Davis’s place and four months after that Doyle was in sole charge. Doyle had his problems in 1871 being convicted for not having a license and having his coach driver and conductor drowned in the flooded Selwyn River.
In August 1873, Doyle altered the route to use the Rolleston Station. The rail-coach route meant that Doyle’s passengers could spend an hour longer in Christchurch than if they had come all the way by coach.
John Cowan died in 1872 and Albert Godfrey Saunders, formerly of the Caversham Hotel, bought the coach and continued the business. J H Doyle, Joe McFarlane, a former driver of Cowan, and W Simmonds, now with the mail contract, set up in opposition to Saunders. Saunders advertised that his coach left Southbridge before the mail coach and had nothing to pick up and would therefore arrive in Christchurch before the opposition. Crawley, another of Cowan’s drivers also tried.
In March 1874 Saunders sold the good-will of his line to Messrs Doyle, Dalwood and Co who kept up the mail run and a daily service. Even with no competition, the journey was broken into 3 stages and horses changed at Lincoln and Doyleston to improve service to Southbridge. Doyle and Dalwood dissolved their partnership.
A branch line from what is now Hornby was constructed and by July 1875 the railway had which connected Prebbleton and Lincoln had reached Ellesmere Station (on the bank of the Selwyn River) and J H Doyle ran a twice daily service to Southbridge from the Ellesmere Station. When the railway was opened to Southbridge, soon after, Doyle advertised his coach for sale.
In 1876 Doyle & Reeves advertised the Doyleston and Maori Pah Line of Royal Mail Coaches which was a small coach service from the train station at Doyleston to Taumutu and return. This carried mail and passengers.
This service was later carried on by Pickering & Co who sold to Deal & Moore in 1895. Later still it was taken over by John Patterson. During the fishing season, the service was well patronized.
Francis Claude (Frank) Thian took over the mail run from Leeston to Taumutu, via Lakeside, and started advertising in 1904 that he would pick up passengers and parcels as well. In 1911 the residents of Taumutu recognized his services at a function in the local hall. Frank ceased advertising his services in 1916.
Material from Graham & Chapple’s book Ellesmere County , 1965, and information from Papers Past.
DescriptionCOACHES AROUND ELLESMERE 880 words
When land was first purchased in Ellesmere, transport was very difficult and Christchurch was a lengthy journey. Unfortunately very few people wrote about their personal experiences but public coach proprietors advertised extensively and so more is known about that mode of transport.
Coaches were significant on the road between Southbridge, Leeston and Christchurch.
At one stage the fare was 15 shillings return, a large sum of money for a laborer and it is not known how many laborers would have caught the coach. For the cost of 3 return rides to Christchurch, a person could have bought an acre of land from the Government.
The delivery of newspapers, mail and parcels may have been a significant money earner as there was competition for mail runs.
In January 1866, Mr Bean , who lived in the Leeston area, conveyed passengers in a four-seater coach to Christchurch, through Doyleston, on Mondays and Fridays and returned the next day. He also carried the weekly Canterbury Times to subscribers along the route.
John Cowan, formerly a ploughman for Charles Bridge at Southbridge, was advertising his coach by May 1866. By July, Cowan was dropping off the Lyttleton Times enroute, and he had the mail contract in December. The Press was being delivered to the Creek Store by February 1867.
It is not known when Henry Theophilus Worsley, from Fendall Town, started his coach service, but he advertised a change in his schedule in June 1866. Thus by 1866 residents had two coaches passing through their town. Worsley was set back by a fire in his stables in September 1867 which killed two horses and destroyed harnesses and feed.
Cowan had a new 16-seat coach by December 1867 and a daily run had started. Worsley had the mail run by 1868. By May however, Worsley advertised to form a company and by July Brittin (or Brittan) & Co had taken over with the mail contract, daily leaving Southbridge at 7am and returning at 3pm. Cowan met this challenge by running a daily return coach and a morning coach three days a week. His new 30 seater coach was pulled by five horses and he was again carrying the mail.
The first stage of the Southern Railway linked Christchurch with Selwyn Village (at the SH1 bridge over the Selwyn River) with a fast service by 1867.
Thus it was possible to travel from Christchurch to an intermediate station by train and then complete the journey by coach to Leeston although other coaches still ran all the way from Christchurch to Leeston and Southbridge.
William Long & John Davis ran a coach from Leeston through Doyleston to Irwell then towards Brookside fording the Selwyn River and driving to the Burnham railway station in May 1870.
Three months later Joseph Hastings Doyle had taken Davis’s place and four months after that Doyle was in sole charge. Doyle had his problems in 1871 being convicted for not having a license and having his coach driver and conductor drowned in the flooded Selwyn River.
In August 1873, Doyle altered the route to use the Rolleston Station. The rail-coach route meant that Doyle’s passengers could spend an hour longer in Christchurch than if they had come all the way by coach.
John Cowan died in 1872 and Albert Godfrey Saunders, formerly of the Caversham Hotel, bought the coach and continued the business. J H Doyle, Joe McFarlane, a former driver of Cowan, and W Simmonds, now with the mail contract, set up in opposition to Saunders. Saunders advertised that his coach left Southbridge before the mail coach and had nothing to pick up and would therefore arrive in Christchurch before the opposition. Crawley, another of Cowan’s drivers also tried.
In March 1874 Saunders sold the good-will of his line to Messrs Doyle, Dalwood and Co who kept up the mail run and a daily service. Even with no competition, the journey was broken into 3 stages and horses changed at Lincoln and Doyleston to improve service to Southbridge. Doyle and Dalwood dissolved their partnership.
A branch line from what is now Hornby was constructed and by July 1875 the railway had which connected Prebbleton and Lincoln had reached Ellesmere Station (on the bank of the Selwyn River) and J H Doyle ran a twice daily service to Southbridge from the Ellesmere Station. When the railway was opened to Southbridge, soon after, Doyle advertised his coach for sale.
In 1876 Doyle & Reeves advertised the Doyleston and Maori Pah Line of Royal Mail Coaches which was a small coach service from the train station at Doyleston to Taumutu and return. This carried mail and passengers.
This service was later carried on by Pickering & Co who sold to Deal & Moore in 1895. Later still it was taken over by John Patterson. During the fishing season, the service was well patronized.
Francis Claude (Frank) Thian took over the mail run from Leeston to Taumutu, via Lakeside, and started advertising in 1904 that he would pick up passengers and parcels as well. In 1911 the residents of Taumutu recognized his services at a function in the local hall. Frank ceased advertising his services in 1916.
Material from Graham & Chapple’s book Ellesmere County , 1965, and information from Papers Past.
Connections
CollectionThe Movement of People and their Goods
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Horse-drawn Coaches. Selwyn Stories, accessed 06/04/2026, https://selwynstories.selwynlibraries.co.nz/nodes/view/6025
