The Brougham carriage – fit for a lord

Honorary curator Peter Foster continues his series featuring vehicles in the National Trust’s horse-drawn vehicle collection, held at the millicent museum.

The Brougham name is not unfamiliar to most South Australians. There’s Brougham Place in North Adelaide and its commanding heritagelisted church built in 1860, overlooking Brougham Gardens. Moving forward more than a hundred years, we find General Motors-Holden’s Ltd choosing the same name for its most prestigious vehicle range. Perhaps less well known is the elegant type of horsedrawn carriage which bears the moniker of Henry Peter Brougham. Also the inspiration for Adelaide’s place names, Lord Brougham was a noted British parliamentarian and reformer who served as Lord High Chancellor from 1830 to 1834. He was often described as an eccentric genius and has been given credit for ‘inventing’ the carriage. However, it appears more likely that he accumulated ideas based on existing vehicles and encapsulated them into something more suited to his needs at the time.

His rudimentary concept was taken to London coachbuilders Sharp and Bland, who did not warm to Lord Brougham’s ideas and refused to build the vehicle. Undaunted, the influential and wealthy statesman found another coachbuilder, Robinson, Mayfair and Cook, who gladly accepted the challenge. The first Brougham appeared on the streets of London in 1838. What is thought to be the original vehicle is on exhibition at the Science Museum in London, having been presented to the museum by the Worshipful Company of Coachmakers and Coach Harness Makers in 1895.

During the Victorian and Edwardian periods, the Brougham served royalty and commoner in equal measure. It became very popular with professionals, particularly doctors and middle-class families, as it enabled them to own a closed carriage for the first time. This was mainly due to requiring only one horse and one coachman, upholding the owner’s necessary social standing without the added expense of a second horse and coach-boy. Designed to seat two people, the vehicle also has a low entrance, is comfortably sprung and was easy to manoeuvre through London’s crowded streets.

The vehicle in the National Trust collection was originally owned by London-trained surgeon, Dr Richard St Mark Dawes, who would have been well aware of the medical fraternity’s leanings towards owning a Brougham. On his arrival in Gawler in 1875, he set about securing a South Australian coachbuilder to make a carriage to order. He chose Thomas Barlow and Sons, an esteemed Adelaide firm with a Royal Warrant, at that time based in Rundle Street.

Ready by September 1877, the “handsome and cosylooking” carriage was painted a deep Indian red, which has now aged to almost black. It features the Dawes family crest on both doors, a black hood, black leather trim and a stunning deep-buttoned burgundy Moroccan leather interior. Inside, the vehicle is most accommodating, having pockets and other fittings. Windows in the doors can be raised and lowered, and blinds drawn for privacy. The two front windows slide sideways for added ventilation.

Many Broughams had speaking tubes, enabling the occupant to communicate with the coachman. Interestingly, the Dawes carriage has a white cord with an ivory toggle at the end nearest the occupant’s shoulder. The cord extends along the interior roofline and through a hole above the front window so it can be attached to the coachman’s sleeve. The toggle was pulled to gain the driver’s attention and give instructions.

The Brougham continued in use, with one horse and occasionally two, until 1907 when Dr Dawes purchased a Di Dion Bouton car. The carriage remained in the Dawes family until 1996, when it was purchased by Mrs Tom Downer, who generously donated it to the National Trust collection.