sunnybrook100
"The Irish Jaunting Car" - 1860s Carte de Visite Photograph
This carte de visite is one from my personal collection. The photograph was taken sometime in the 1860s by James Magill of Donegall Place in Belfast. So far, I have not been able to find out much about James Magill other than the fact that he was also a bookseller.
The subject of this original antique photograph is the famous "Irish Jaunting Car" of verse and song. The photo was taken in front of a brick livery stable. If you look at the window on the far right, you can see a man in a white shirt. What appears to be a horse collar is hanging up behind him.
The detail of the photograph is exceptional, showing not only the construction of the jaunting car, but also the fashions of the day, as well as the construction of the brick livery stable. You can even see where a pane of glass over the door has been broken out.
The horse seems to be a fairly good one and appears to be well cared for at first glance, as his coat is shiney. However, when the image is viewed on the largest size, what appear to be scars from old injuries cover his legs. The wonderful detail of his collar and harness is also visible on the largest size.
It is evident that the man holding the horse moved slightly when the picture was taken, for his face is blurred; however, the features of everyone else in the protograph are clear and expressive. The dapper driver appears to be quite the character. By the way, the driver of a jaunting car was known as a "jarvey." (Mark that down in case you ever get on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?")
Volume V05, Page 297 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica tell us:
From Ireland comes the "jaunting-car," which is in general use, both in the towns, where it is the commonest public carriage for hire, and in the country districts, where it is employed to carry the mails and for the use of tourists. The gentry and more well-to-do farmers also use it as a private carriage in all parts of Ireland.
The genuine Irish jaunting-car is a two-wheeled vehicle constructed to carry four persons besides the driver. In the centre, at right angles to the axle, is a "well" about 18 in. deep, used for carrying parcels or small luggage and covered with a lid which is usually furnished with a cushion. The "well" provides a low back to each of the two seats, which are in the form of wings placed over each wheel, with foot boards hanging outside the wheel on hinges, so that when not in use they can be turned up over the seats, thus reducing the width of the car (sometimes very necessary in the narrow country roads) and protecting the seats from the weather.
The passengers on each side sit with their backs to each other, with the "well" between them. The driver sits on a movable box seat, or "dicky," a few inches high, placed across the head of the "well," with a footboard to which there is usually no splash-board attached.
A more modern form of the jaunting car, known as a "long car," chiefly used for tourists, is a four-wheeled vehicle constructed on the same plan, which accommodates as many as eight or ten passengers on each side, and two in addition on a high box-seat beside the driver. In the city of Cork a carriage known as an "inside car" is in common use. It is a two-wheeled covered carriage in which the passengers sit face to face as in a wagonette.
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In a roundabout way, "The Irish Jaunting Car" made an appearance in the American Civil War in the form of a famous song. Harry Macarthy, an Ulster born entertainer who billed himself as "The Arkansas Comedian," wrote a set of rousing verses patriotic in theme for the Confederacy and set them to the tune of an earlier song called "The Irish Jaunting Car" by Valentine Vousden, an Irish vaudeville performer. Vousden's song was published sometime in the 1850s. Macarthy entitled his version "The Bonnie Blue Flag" (in reference to the first unofficial flag of the Confederacy), and it was first published in 1861 by A. E. Blackmar and Brother of New Orleans.
It's easy to find the words and music for "The Bonnie Blue Flag," but finding them for Vousden's earlier song is not. I came across many, many poems and songs about Irish Jaunting Cars, but only two stanzas from I believe to be Vousden's original verses after several hours of searching on the internet.
My name is Larry Doolan, I'm a native of the soil,
If you want a day's 'divarshin' I'll dhrive you out in style,
My car is painted red and green, and on the well a star,
And the Pride of Dublin City is my 'Irish Jaunting Car'!
If you want to drive round Dublin shure you'll find me on the stand
I'll take you to Raheny to pick cockles on the Strand,
I'll take you to the Phoenix Park, to Nancy Hands and then
I'll take you to the strawberry beds and back to town again.
If you know the rest of the words or have the music to Vousden's song, please let me know.
"The Irish Jaunting Car" - 1860s Carte de Visite Photograph
This carte de visite is one from my personal collection. The photograph was taken sometime in the 1860s by James Magill of Donegall Place in Belfast. So far, I have not been able to find out much about James Magill other than the fact that he was also a bookseller.
The subject of this original antique photograph is the famous "Irish Jaunting Car" of verse and song. The photo was taken in front of a brick livery stable. If you look at the window on the far right, you can see a man in a white shirt. What appears to be a horse collar is hanging up behind him.
The detail of the photograph is exceptional, showing not only the construction of the jaunting car, but also the fashions of the day, as well as the construction of the brick livery stable. You can even see where a pane of glass over the door has been broken out.
The horse seems to be a fairly good one and appears to be well cared for at first glance, as his coat is shiney. However, when the image is viewed on the largest size, what appear to be scars from old injuries cover his legs. The wonderful detail of his collar and harness is also visible on the largest size.
It is evident that the man holding the horse moved slightly when the picture was taken, for his face is blurred; however, the features of everyone else in the protograph are clear and expressive. The dapper driver appears to be quite the character. By the way, the driver of a jaunting car was known as a "jarvey." (Mark that down in case you ever get on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?")
Volume V05, Page 297 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica tell us:
From Ireland comes the "jaunting-car," which is in general use, both in the towns, where it is the commonest public carriage for hire, and in the country districts, where it is employed to carry the mails and for the use of tourists. The gentry and more well-to-do farmers also use it as a private carriage in all parts of Ireland.
The genuine Irish jaunting-car is a two-wheeled vehicle constructed to carry four persons besides the driver. In the centre, at right angles to the axle, is a "well" about 18 in. deep, used for carrying parcels or small luggage and covered with a lid which is usually furnished with a cushion. The "well" provides a low back to each of the two seats, which are in the form of wings placed over each wheel, with foot boards hanging outside the wheel on hinges, so that when not in use they can be turned up over the seats, thus reducing the width of the car (sometimes very necessary in the narrow country roads) and protecting the seats from the weather.
The passengers on each side sit with their backs to each other, with the "well" between them. The driver sits on a movable box seat, or "dicky," a few inches high, placed across the head of the "well," with a footboard to which there is usually no splash-board attached.
A more modern form of the jaunting car, known as a "long car," chiefly used for tourists, is a four-wheeled vehicle constructed on the same plan, which accommodates as many as eight or ten passengers on each side, and two in addition on a high box-seat beside the driver. In the city of Cork a carriage known as an "inside car" is in common use. It is a two-wheeled covered carriage in which the passengers sit face to face as in a wagonette.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a roundabout way, "The Irish Jaunting Car" made an appearance in the American Civil War in the form of a famous song. Harry Macarthy, an Ulster born entertainer who billed himself as "The Arkansas Comedian," wrote a set of rousing verses patriotic in theme for the Confederacy and set them to the tune of an earlier song called "The Irish Jaunting Car" by Valentine Vousden, an Irish vaudeville performer. Vousden's song was published sometime in the 1850s. Macarthy entitled his version "The Bonnie Blue Flag" (in reference to the first unofficial flag of the Confederacy), and it was first published in 1861 by A. E. Blackmar and Brother of New Orleans.
It's easy to find the words and music for "The Bonnie Blue Flag," but finding them for Vousden's earlier song is not. I came across many, many poems and songs about Irish Jaunting Cars, but only two stanzas from I believe to be Vousden's original verses after several hours of searching on the internet.
My name is Larry Doolan, I'm a native of the soil,
If you want a day's 'divarshin' I'll dhrive you out in style,
My car is painted red and green, and on the well a star,
And the Pride of Dublin City is my 'Irish Jaunting Car'!
If you want to drive round Dublin shure you'll find me on the stand
I'll take you to Raheny to pick cockles on the Strand,
I'll take you to the Phoenix Park, to Nancy Hands and then
I'll take you to the strawberry beds and back to town again.
If you know the rest of the words or have the music to Vousden's song, please let me know.