THE COACHING AMATEURS 45 



the road, via Dorking and Horsham, until November 

 8th, 1845. 



The " Age " had been one of the best equipped and 

 driven of all the smart drags in that period when 

 aristocratic amateur dragsmen frequented this road, 

 when the /Marquis of Worcester drove the " Beaufort," 

 and when the Hon. Fred Jerningham, a son of the 

 Earl of Stafford, a whip of consummate skill, drove 

 the day-mail ; a time when the " Age " itself was 

 driven by that sportsman of gambling memory, Sir 

 St. Vincent Cotton, and by that Mr. Stevenson who 

 was its founder, mentioned more particularly on 

 page 37. When Mr. Capps became proprietor, he had 

 as coachman several distinguished men. For twelve 

 years, for instance, Robert Brackenbury drove the 

 " Age " for the nominal pay of twelve shillings per 

 week, enough to keep him in whips. It was thus 

 supremely lifting that it should also have been the 

 last to survive. 



In later years, about 1852, a revived " Age," owned 

 and driven by the Duke of Beaufort and George Clark, 

 the " Old " Clark of coaching acquaintance, was on 

 the road to London, via Dorking and Kingston, in the 

 summer months. It was discontinued in 1862. A 

 picture of this coach crossing Ham Common en route 

 for Brighton was painted in 1852 and engraved. A 

 reproduction of it is shown here. 



From 1862 to 1866 the rattle of the bars and the 

 sound of the guard's yard of tin were silent on every 

 route to Brighton ; but in the latter year of horsey 

 memory and the coaching revival, a number of aris- 

 tocratic and wealthy amateurs of the whip, among 

 whom were representatives of the best coaching talent 

 of the day, subscribed a capital, in shares of £10, and 

 a little yellow coach, the " Old Times," was put on 

 the highway. Among the promoters of the venture 

 were Captain Haworth. the Duke of Beaufort, Lord 

 H. Thynne, Mr. Chandos Pole, Mr. " Cherry " Angell, 

 Colonel Armytage, Captain Lawrie, and Mr. Fitzgerald. 

 The experiment proved unsuccessful, but in the 



