Continuing with my fascination of the Ladies Four In Hand Club, I unearthed the following article from the New York Times Archive:
It references the Club's annual parade with some very entertaining and interesting headlines:
"Women The Whips Parade of Coaches
Ladies Four In Hand Club Has It's Annual Park Display
Brass Buttons and Beavers
Much Skill Shown in the Tooling, Horses and Vehicles Make a Fine Appearance"
The article details the coaches' [probably park drags] colors with a shocking revelation for me. It describes Mrs. Thomas Hastings turning out Henry James Smith's "very dark blue" coach with corresponding blue gowns on the feminine guests. Yellow was the dominant color of the coaches, however, there were two with white bodies! Miss Cornelia Bryce drove" a white bodied coach with scarlet trimmings", and adorned her horses heads with red and white rosebuds. The coach driven by Miss Guliver had a soft green body and decorated her horses with gardenias!
Coaches with white bodies! Note Henry James Smith's coach was Very. Dark. Blue. Did the women whips own these coaches? Was painting the coach white or soft green an assertion of femininity? I find no mention of white bodied coaches in the writing of Underhill, Beaufort nor Rogers. Not unlikely, as there is very little mention of women at all in these tomes, save for what the coachman should wear when in charge of a ladies vehicle. Harold Ault assured me white vehicles were limited to children's hearses.
This is a shock. If any one out there can help further my knowledge of this, please do. I really was under the impression that good form meant turning out a coach or park vehicle with Very. Dark. Colors. Or else, I'm going to have to play history detective...but I shall not be repainting the gig!
Kind Regards,
Michelle Blackler
Serendipity
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