CO A CH-PR OPRIE TORS 2 1 3 



marriage bringing him the command of some 

 capital, he entered into partnershij^ with one 

 Roberts, a coach-proprietor established at the 

 "AVhite Horse," Fetter Lane. But the partner- 

 ship Avas dissolved at the expiration of twelve 

 months, Avhen Home, making a bold stroke, 

 purchased the "Golden Cross" of John Cross, 

 Avho, having acquired a large fortune after many 

 years in business there, was now retiring from it 

 and entering upon a series of rash speculations 

 Avliich eventually ruined him and brought Thomas 

 Cross, his son, down to poverty from the assured 

 position of heir to that fortune, and thence to the 

 dramatic reverse of soliciting employment as a 

 coachman in the very yard his father once had 

 owned. 



Established thus at the "Golden Cross," 

 AVilliam Home further developed the very fine 

 coaching business he had acquired, and added to 

 it the yards at the " Cross Keys," Wood Street, 

 and the " George and Blue Boar," Holborn, 

 together Avith an office at 11, Regent Circus. 

 He soon had seven hundred horses in Avork, and 

 Avas in the full tide of life and energy Avhen he 

 died in 1828, at the early age of forty-five. 

 "His last journey," says the obituary notice of 

 him, " Avas l)ut a short distance — St. Margaret's 

 churchyard, Westminster; and, as a man of 

 talent, his remains Avere placed within a fcAv 

 feet of some of the greatest men of their age." 



Benjamin AVorthy Home Avas thus only 

 tAventy-four years of age A^■hen the management 



