Zebra taxi cab in Brixton Road!

[editor]

I had this fascinating photo forwarded to me by a poster here (thanks!) of a zebra-driven taxi cab leaving Brixton and heading for Stockwell.

The photo wasn't dated, but I'm guessing that it was taken around 1915. The only real clue is the advertisement for Quin and Axtens on the railway bridge, although that seems to have changed regularly - witness the different styles seen in 1920 and a year later.

The lower poster on the corner of Brixton Station Road is for a piano shop, while just past the bridge can be seen the original Woolworths, on the junction of Brixton Road and Atlantic Road.

More info anyone?

 

[5t3IIa]

It wasn't advertsing some long gone Brixton zoo or anything was it?

 

[editor]

What's odd is that nobody seems particularly phased by the zebra.

 

[5t3IIa]

That boy to the right looks fascinated

 

[Pip]

It wasn't advertsing some long gone Brixton zoo or anything was it?

I think the nearest zoo then was in Camberwell.

 

[London_Calling]

I wondered if the carriage has pneumatic tyres, or any kind of rubberised track - might be a prety rickety journey given the absence of tarmac. Does the absence of tarmac help pin it down?

The number plate is the only other thing I can see.

My guess from no where would be 1924 . . .

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Maybe they used to belong to Lord Rothschild and he got bored with them and sold them off?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Maybe it belonged to Lady Meux

http://www.thetemplebar.info/theobalds_park/index.html

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Zoological Society, but again, there's four of them

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article2563090.ece

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Rothschild didn't always use four zebras though

 

[Hocus Eye.]

Remember when you cross the road to make sure there isn't a zebra crossing in front of you pulling a carriage.

EDITED TO ADD: The image in the OP also turns up on the site linked to below. Its heading is London in 1900. It is the second image as you scroll down.

http://www.taringa.net/posts/imagenes/1015358/Londres-en-el-1900.html

 

[editor]

Pretty sure it's not Lord Rothschild driving the cab.

 

[London_Calling]

Indeed, you wouldn't catch him south of the river.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Pretty sure it's not Lord Rothschild driving the cab.

Well, it doesn't look like him, but hard to see if he's got a beard, but he may have had a chauffeur? Not like he was poor

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Indeed, you wouldn't catch him south of the river.

Brixton was quite posh in them days you know

 

[editor]

It's not a taxi cab either - I got that bit wrong. It's more of a trap, or maybe it's a gig, a fly or one of the zillions of vehicle classifications available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cart

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Indeed, you wouldn't catch him south of the river.

Lady Meux's family were at Temple Bar which is only across the River

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It's not a taxi cab either - I got that bit wrong. It's more of a trap, or maybe it's a gig, a fly or one of the zillions of vehicle classifications available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cart

It is a phaeton?

So that could have been a chauffeur

Now, apparently a zebra's stripes are as unique as fingerprints. All we have to do is study the stripes and compare it to the others

 

[Hocus Eye.]

In addition to the site I posted above this is another site which has the picture. Scroll down to about picture ten or so. This set looks similar to the other ones of London but I think there are one or two more. They are smaller here though:

http://doseng.org/raznoe/9391-london-nachalo-xix-veka-32-foto.html

Lots of interesting pictures of well known London sites and a few cinemas, also one of Victoria Station.

 

[editor]

It is a phaeton?

So that could have been a chauffeur

It could have been, except every picture shows Rothschild driving himself.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

It could have been, except every picture shows Rothschild driving himself.

Maybe he didn't like South London drivers?

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Looks like grass

This doesn't look like a busy, main road

Maybe he was too scared to drive on big London roads himself

 

[editor]

Remember when you cross the road to make sure there isn't a zebra crossing in front of you pulling a carriage.

EDITED TO ADD: The image in the OP also turns up on the site linked to below. Its heading is London in 1900. It is the second image as you scroll down.l

They were invented by then, but I would have thought that motor cars would be a rare sight on the streets in 1900.

In fact that date must be wrong because electrified trams didn't arrive in Brixton until 1904.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

They were invented by then, but I would have thought that motor cars would be a rare sight on the streets in 1900.

In fact that date must be wrong because electrified trams didn't arrive in Brixton until 1904.

and from your photos, here's the rebuilding of the lines in 1907

and in 1910

and the sign shows on both bridges

 

[editor]

and the sign shows on both bridges

The Quin and Axtens sign was on the railway bridge for decades - sometimes changing year by year - so it's not much help in dating the photo.

Nothing there in 1905 though and it looks like the bridge may have been replaced then.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

Men wearing bowler hats doesn't help either as they were being worn from the 1850s

 

[quimcunx]

It's not a taxi cab either - I got that bit wrong. It's more of a trap, or maybe it's a gig, a fly or one of the zillions of vehicle classifications available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cart

Ooh! I was going to say it looks more like a trap.

*awards self 1 point*

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

I'm wondering if it it could be after in the second decade of the 1900s. The women seem to be wearing almost ankle-length skirts, but they do look like slightly older women

In this picture, the hemline seems to have gone up a bit

This picture's 1912

http://landmark.lambeth.gov.uk/display_page.asp?section=landmark&id=1043

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

i think i've found the answer

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

A zebra harnessed to a pony-chaise, seen driven alongside Clapham Common. The zebra belonged to the music-hall artist, Mr Gustav Graise. Having survived a fire it was stabled at Brixton and is seen here on its daily exercise route in South London.

http://landmark.lambeth.gov.uk/display_page.asp?section=landmark&id=2128

This picture is also 1912