Here with have this Robson's Stagecoach Directory for London & the Country in the year 1838.
It shows the names of the operators, where they departed from & the towns they went to, it tells you the days of the week they operated on & the daily frequency of journeys & mileages.
This is a wonderful account of early transportation, this information however serves two purposes. The first is self explanatory, but the second use needs some thinking about.
During the time I have been involved with genealogy I have heard the expressions my Brick Wall or my Headache or my Nightmare banded about in genealogy chat forums many times.
It is only when you get an untrackable ancestor that you understand the magnitude of these expressions. Thanks to this publication I cracked a nut that drove me crazy for years.
I had an ancestor in the 1841 census in Shropshire, in 1841 with regards to birthplace the question asked was "Born of this County Y or N" The enumerator marked N
I could not find him in 1851 or beyond & now learn he died died between the census of 41 & 51, had he of lived until the 1851 census the question changed to "Where Born"
So all I could do was search every birth nationwide for that name around the birth year identified from the age given in the census of 1841. As Shropshire is served by the mighty River Severn I had found one suitable candidate in Worcester.
However I then read somewhere that the Severn was un-navigable in parts due to thick reeds & silt & low level water. I then doubted my Bristol link, then whilst working on this publication I thought I would look at this from another angle I.E the Stagecoach.
I looked at the locations served by Shrewsbury (that's where he was in 1841) & then crossed referenced all births in each of those towns & after plenty of searching I hit on a match, which I now believe is him.
So you see you have to turn detective ! I am not saying this works for everyone that would be a foolish claim to make, but it worked for me. So if you have a Brick Wall driving you mad then this may break it down !
Here are two examples, one from London & one from the Country carriers.
London to Birmingham, Saracen's Head, Skinner Street operated by Mountain, S.A & Co 109 miles one journey daily.
Cheltenham to Shrewsbury, operated by Dangerfield & Co, 74 miles, once daily Monday to Saturday, no Sunday service
