3-011-679 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

A "Block" in Park-lane, [London], 1864. Traffic congestion: 'Just about the corner of Brick-street, which is close to Holdernesse House, may be witnessed, at certain hours daily, a scene of ludicrous yet pitiable confusion...The huge red omnibus, which runs from the Paddington to the Victoria Railway station; the sumptuous carriage and pair, which bears a Tyburnian lady returning from her round of shops or morning calls: the nimble hansom, which has, for its rapidity, been hired by an eager-looking gentleman to perform an errand of haste...the costermonger's donkey-cart, the overdriven sheep and cattle, and the terrified family - papa and mamma, with their little girl, who are in such fear of being knocked down and trampled upon or crushed beneath the rolling wheels...The list of damaged vehicles [is] serious enough in itself; the dislocated wheels, the broken shafts, the bruised panels of many a neat equipage, would plead for redress. But this is nothing to the sufferings of horses, and still more those of mankind, whom we may divide into three classes - those who drive, those who are driven, and those who are driven over'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.