A Formidable Undertaking: TRANSPORTING SEVEN HORSES FROM LONDON TO FLORENCE IN 1787

The Cowpers were one of the most notable families in Hertfordshire in the 18th and 19th centuries. In last year’s journal I wrote about George, the 3rd Earl, who abandoned the family seat in Hertfordshire and chose instead to live in Florence. That article focused on the management of his household at the Villa Palmieri where he lived in great style and luxury.

The Villa Palmieri, which still exists, is situated on the outskirts of Florence on the road to Fiesole. The Earl also had a small summer villa and a hunting lodge. He frequently went into the city, where he visited his friend Peter Leopold, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, and met visitors from England who were travelling through Italy. He was a regular attendee at operas, plays, galas and open air events, and at all the theatres he would lease his own boxes. He also spent time in his private laboratory in the city where he liked to watch and conduct experiments (D/EP F 370). This was an interesting and fashionable past-time of the enlightened aristocracy in the 18th century, many of whom not only conducted experiments themselves but also invited professional scientists to make use of the expensive apparatus.

The Earl very much liked to make his journeys in style. He owned many types of carriage and took great pride in his horses. In 1787, having decided he was in need of some new animals, he made arrangements for seven horses to be purchased in England and brought to Florence. The details of the journey are held at the Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (D/EP AF 229), and are summarised in this article.

The Journey from London to Turin

The journey covered a distance of 825 miles and it took the men involved 77 days to complete. This includes certain occasions when they remained for two nights in one place. Since these were valuable horses, the grooms took great care to ensure their charges did not get over-tired or injured. They thus walked for no more than 11 miles in a day. By comparison, in the late 18th century it usually took only 21 days to carry the mail from London to Milan by the normal postal service, a distance of 596 miles (Thraliania P596).

Two men were responsible for making sure the horses arrived safely. Mr Charles Whitbread was in charge of all the travel arrangements between London and Turin. Once in Turin he was to pass the responsibility over to Sig. Giovanni Benvenuti, who normally worked as a footman at the Villa Palmieri.

Charles Whitbread had the assistance of two under-grooms who were engaged to accompany him as far as Turin. He also seems to have hired local couriers. Three men, therefore, would have led two horses each and one man would have been in charge of a single horse. However, the different couriers may have had their own horses, in which case each man would have been responsible for two horses. For this part of the journey, the bills and receipts relate just to the horses; there is no paperwork relating to the travelling expenses of the men.

Stage 1: London to Calais, via Dover, 4-12 May (85 miles)

The party travelled for five days. The cost each night for the horses’ fodder and stabling was 17s.6d. They spent two nights at Dover, while Mr Whitbread found a ship to take them across the Channel. They eventually embarked on The Pitt, where the horses were secured to halters on board. The charge for each place was 2s. The cost of the crossing, including customs duties and fees, was £14.14s. On reaching Calais, Mr Whitbread had to pay “A Gratification on Arrival”, in sterling, to the captain and crew. This amounted to £1.11s.6d.

Stage 2: Calais to Pont de Beauvoisin, via Paris and Lyons, 12 May-14 June (385 miles)

Two nights were spent at Calais. Here Mr Whitbread had to pay customs duties, hire a local guide, and obtain a supply of French currency. At that time French currency consisted of livres and sous. There was also a gold coin called a Louis d’or which was worth 24 livres.

Having landed at Calais, Mr Whitbread had to start conducting matters in French. Thus on many of the bills the seven horses now became “le Sept cheveaux”, while Mr Whitbread himself was referred to in various Gallic ways, such as Charles Conditeur de Cheveaux Englois or Monsieur Charles Englois or just simply Monsieur Charles. Most of the bills were for quantities of fodder, oats, bran and straw, but sometimes the cost of vinegar was also included. This was used as a rub to prevent the coats of the horses being plagued by infestations from flies and other insects.

Stage 3: Pont de Beauvoisin to Turin, 14-30 June (145 miles)

At Pont de Beauvoisin the party crossed the boundary between France and the Duchy of Savoy, and so Mr Whitbread had to start using a new currency. The coins in Savoy were still named livres and sous, but their value in relation to the gold Louis d’or was higher than in France.

This stage of the journey was by far the most difficult as the terrain became mountainous and the air temperature dropped. Like most travellers during the 18th century, the party chose to cross the Alps via the pass at Mount Cenis. They stayed two nights at Lanslebourg, a village at the foot of the mountain. Here Mr Whitbread made arrangements for guides to take them all across the pass. Each horse had to have its own man to lead it, for which the cost was L2.5 per horse. Mr Whitbread and the other two grooms would not have had suitable footwear for walking over rough and icy ground, so they rode over the pass on saddled mules. The cost of hiring a mule was L2. 10.

Having safely negotiated the pass, the party descended into Piedmont. Piedmont was part of the Duchy of Savoy, but its currency consisted of lire and soldi, and Mr Whitbread was now presented with bills written in Italian. Thus the horses were no longer referred to as the sept cheveaux, but the sette cavalli.

Once the party reached Turin, the two under-grooms were paid off and presumably made their way back to London.

The journey from Turin to Florence

Sig. Giovanni Benvenuti rode up from the Villa Palmieri in Florence to meet the English party at Turin. The timing of this meeting must have been very difficult to arrange, and in the event he was kept waiting in Turin for a fortnight before the others arrived. They finally met up on 30 June and it seems they all spent that night in the same inn. Sig. Benvenuti was given the receipt for his extended stay, which came to just under 50 Piedmontese lire, by Gioanna Barberis who was careful to describe herself as dalla Buona Fama (a woman of good character). Giuseppe Barberis gave Mr Whitbread a Memoria per I Cavalli degli Seg. Inglesi (Memorandum for the Englishman’s horses).

Stage 4: Turin to Florence, via Bologna, 1/2-20 July (255 miles)

Sig. Benvenuti was now responsible for the travelling arrangements and he hired two grooms to assist him on the journey. He was also accompanied by Mr Whitbread. It is not known whether the latter’s contract had been for the whole journey or whether he just decided that he would like to see the horses settled in their new home in Florence.

They set out along the road which followed the River Po as far as Piacenza. For this stage of the journey the papers contain the bills for the men’s expenses as well as for the horses. There were numerous complications caused by the frequent changes of currency in this part of the Italian Peninsula. For instance, at Asti on 4 July lunch and dinner for the four men was 9 lire, while their morning white wine and their after-lunch wine cost 17.6 soldi. However, at Piacenza on 10 July the bill for the horses’ fodder had to be paid in the local currency which comprised zecchini (gold coins referred to as “Sequins” in English), paoli and crazie. The hay, fodder, vinegar and bran for the seven animals came to 45½ paoli. In Bologna, which was situated within the Papal States, bills and tolls had to be paid in Bolognese lire. When they reached Tuscany itself, zecchini, paoli and crazie were once more in use. Sig. Benvenuti would have needed to be very clear-headed about all this since, although lire and paoli were common terms from state to state, they were not necessarily of common value!

They arrived in Florence on 20 July. Mr Whitbread and Sig. Benvenuti handed the relevant bills and receipts to Sig. Guiseppe Barini, the Earl’s steward. Presumably the seven horses were led away to the Earl’s well equipped stables, where they would eat well and live in comfort.

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Earl Cowper’s Stables

According to the accounts of 1786, six members of staff on the regular payroll of the Earl were employed in the stables at the Villa Palmieri (D/EP AF 17). Their names and duties are set out below, together with their monthly wages, paid in the Tuscan currency which was based on the zecchini. In addition to the wage costs of the men, there was also a monthly contract of 400 zecchini with a specialist firm for the maintenance of the vehicles. There were a great many of these.

Unfortunately Earl Cowper died in December 1789, only two and half years after the horses had been brought out to him in Florence. Immediately after his death, a legal firm took charge of everything and an inventory was made of all his possessions (D/EP F 369). The inventory was made in French, this being the official and international language of Europe in the 18th century. The heading reads as follows:

Inventoire General des Effects trouves existants a 22 Decembre 1789,

jour de la mort de S:S: le prince

Cowper

dans le palais de Florence, Ecurie et Maisons de Campagne

(General Inventory of the existing effects found on 22 December 1789,

on the day of the death of His Excellency Prince

Cowper

in his palace in Florence, his stable and his houses in the country)

The stables contained three two-seater carriages and five four-seater carriages; three barouches¹; a four-seater carriage for long distances; and a four-seater vehicle of German style. There were also various types of carts. The contents of the sheds also included blankets, harnesses, aprons, pitchforks, shovels, levers and boxes of oats.

As regards the horses, the clerks who made the inventory were careful to note that there were three chevaux de Selle; that is, three saddle horses for riding. The other animals were grouped in pairs. These were the carriage horses and they comprised four pairs of English Bays; one pair of Bays from Normandy; and one pair of mules.

The English horses brought out in 1787 were presumably amongst this number. However, there are other records which show that horses were brought to Florence from England and Vienna before 1787, so caution has to be exercised. Nonetheless, if we assume that the seven horses were indeed included amongst the carriage horses listed in the inventory, then they were most probably Cleveland Bays. This breed of horse has a very striking appearance. Its coat is brown with a reddish tint while its mane, tail and ear tips are black. The breed is hardy, long-lived and docile, and it was particularly sought after in the 18th century by people who could afford to keep stylish carriages. Cleveland Bays are still used in England today to pull the carriages in royal processions.

The Earl had three sons who had been sent back to England for their education in 1781. After his death all his valuable furniture and his collection of paintings and art objects were shipped from Florence to England and stored in the family house at Cole Green near Hertford. We do not know what happened to the horses.

Sources of Reference

All the documents referred to in the text under reference D/EP, and also the extract from Thraliania, the journals of Mrs Thrale/Piozzi, are retained in the Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies Library.

Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance given to her by Maria Porter who worked with her on the documents and also the staff at HALS who are always helpful. Thanks are also extended to the people at HALS and elsewhere who succeeded in securing the Panshanger Papers for the Hertfordshire Archives and the nation in 1994. The total cost of this purchase was £800,000.

Note:

¹ A barouche was a four-wheeled open carriage