Chapter 8 - On the Road: Travel to London for the Season

Summary

The introduction and subsequent diffusion of private coaches around the country from the mid-sixteenth century onwards meant that it was now easier for a member of the landed elite like Cavendish to travel with his family and servants. The expansion of the postal system and the growth in the number of hackneymen made it possible for travellers to hire horses, while the establishment of a nationwide network of carrying services linking London with the provinces ensured that luggage could be delivered over long distances. Wayside inns proliferated too. Even so, journeys between the provinces and London were still arduous and time-consuming. When Cavendish and his peers travelled to London, their entourage was a larger and more varied one than was needed when they made provinicial visits, with more servants, vehicles, horses and luggage.

The passage of the cavalcade was an impressive sight, causing ripples of excitement as it trundled through town and village. On 9 December 1608 John Chamberlain, an astute commentator on the London scene, observed that Sir Henry Carey and his wife had come to town in great pomp, with five coaches, many horsemen and the pregnant Lady Carey seated on a litter. Cavendish travelled with fewer people in his party but it would still have attracted attention. At the beginning of Michaelmas Term 1601 he went with six servants and eleven horses but returned in December with seven servants, a gentlewoman appointed for his mother and thirteen horses. In April 1604 the widowed Cavendish travelled to London with nine servants and fourteen horses. Then, eighteen months later, he set out with his new wife, Lady Elizabeth, and his niece Arbella, accompanied by sixteen servants, including footmen and the drivers of the sumpters, and twenty-five horses. This was a special occasion, for Cavendish, elevated to the peerage in the spring as a result of Lady Arbella's nomination, was due to be presented in the House of Lords on 12 November.

Travel to and from London

When Cavendish made the long journey down to London after the death of his first wife he surely rode, as many men of his age and status would have done. Neither would he have altered his travel arrangements on those occasions when his second wife did not accompany him.