George Shillibeer
George Shillibeer was born in October 1797 in St Marylebone, London. He was the son of Abraham and Elizabeth Shillibeer. By the early 1820s George was working for Hatchetts, a coach building company in London. He accepted an offer to work in Paris, France, where he designed some long horse-drawn coaches capable of transporting a large group of people. These early omnibuses were stable and proved popular. By 1827 they were working the streets of Paris. In 1827 George obtained a commission to build one for Newington Academy for Girls, a Quaker school in Stoke Newington near London. This had seats for 25 and is claimed to be the first school bus.
By 1826 George had entered into a partnership with John Cavill with a livery stables at 12 Bury Street, Bloomsbury Square and a coach building business[1]. The partnership was dissolved in June 1828, with George retaining the liver stables[2][3]. In 1829 he built an omnibus for use on the main roads of London, capable of carrying 18 people and obtained a licence to operate four return services daily between the Yorkshire Stingo at Paddington and the Bank of England via New Road (now Marylebone Rd), Somers Town and City Road. The services began operating on the 4th July. The fare was 1/- for a full journey and 6d for a half journey[4]. The local coachmen within a week had organised with Mr Turner, the officer regulating the Paddington stages, to lodge a complaint with the Lord Mayor about the omnibus causing an obstruction when waiting for passengers. The complaint was dismissed. During the hearing George Shillibeer offered to construct omnibuses for anyone who ordered one.
There were soon other omnibus operators and by March 1831 George Shillibeer was declared bankrupt[5]. The indication is that he continued to operate his omnibus services in partnership with William Morton[6]. William Morton took over the omnibuses and service when the partnership was dissolved in 1834. George Shillibeer also entered into partnership with Theophilus Holmes[7], initially operating omnibuses in Brighton and then in London. By 1836 the indication is that George Shillibeer was running an omnibus service from London to Greenwich [8]. Competition from the railways resulted in George falling into arrears with stamp duty and in May his assets were seized. His assets were described as property in Kent, Surrey and Middlesex, 95 horses and 16 omnibuses. He paid the amount of the bail bond, £1520, and then had to go to court to get the difference between what he owed and the bail bond released, £800. By March 1837 George was once more declared bankrupt[9]. In May he was discharged with Thomas Cave appointed assignee[10].
Faced with rising omnibus competition, George Shillibeer invented a Funeral Omnibus, a combined hearse and mourning coach that he patented. He started a business for them in 1842[11]. In 1849 he was in trouble with the Excise Office for the duty he was paying for renting out his hearses[12]. At the trial he was acquitted of most charges with the jury deciding that he had made honest errors. By 1851 undertaking was his main business[13] and he was still contesting the duty on horse and hearse charges.
George Shillibeer final residence was at Chigwell Row, Essex. He died in Brighton in August 1866, a year after his wife Elizabeth. He was buried in the graveyard at St Mary's Church at Chigwell.
The token below was issued as a free souvenir of start of George Shillibeer's omnibus services on 4th July 1829. Indications are that the token was redeemable for a ride during the first few months of the service.
- ↑ Morning Herald (London), 21 Feb 1826, page 5
- ↑ The London Gazette, 13 Jun 1828, Issue 18478, Page 1149
- ↑ Morning Post, 11 Jun 1829, page 1
- ↑ New Times (London), 13 Jul 1829, page 4
- ↑ The London Gazette, 31 Jan 1832, Issue 18898, Page 219
- ↑ Morning Post, 05 Aug 1841, page 4
- ↑ The London Gazette, 28 Feb 1834, Issue 19132, Page 374
- ↑ Morning Herald (London), 09 May 1836, page 4
- ↑ The London Gazette, 17 Mar 1837, Issue 19476, Page 762
- ↑ Morning Herald (London), 26 May 1837, page 4
- ↑ West Kent Guardian, 02 Apr 1842, page 1
- ↑ Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, 14 May 1849, page 4
- ↑ Morning Advertiser, 21 Nov 1851, page 7