Collections close up: Thomas Tilling ‘knifeboard’ type horse bus, about 1875

The Thomas Tilling ‘knifeboard’ type horse bus in our collection ran in the 1870s and 1880s. It was owned by Thomas Tilling, one of London’s biggest bus operators. 

‘Knifeboard’ buses were the first double-deckers, with a single long back-to-back seat fitted lengthways along the roof, which resembled the Victorian domestic knife-cleaning board. They first appeared in 1847 and became the standard London horse bus until the arrival of the ‘garden seat’ type in 1881.
 

Most early horse buses carried up to 12 people inside and operators paid tax according to passenger numbers. But in 1842 this changed to a tax on mileage only. This created an incentive to refine bus designs to reduce their weight and carry more people on the roof. 

The first bus with the characteristic long ‘knifeboard’ seat was introduced in east London in 1847, but they became more popular with the boom in demand for horse bus services to the Great Exhibition at Hyde Park in 1851. With outside seating on the roof, these early double-deckers could carry up to 26 people, and fierce competition reduced fares.

The design of the bus represents the maximum size and weight that could be handled comfortably by two horses. Roof seats were initially reached by rungs on the back of the bus, but curved staircases were added in the 1870s.

Horse buses were not cheap or comfortable. There were constant complaints about the service from their middle-class customers. Even so, they were convenient and very well used. As fares fell in the 1850s, they became more affordable to working people.

Though popular, horse buses could be complicated to use, especially for visitors to London. There were no bus stops, maps or route numbers to help passengers. Each bus had a fleet name and colour scheme that indicated the route. Passengers could ask to get on or off wherever they chose. 

Most routes started and finished outside pubs, where horses could be watered and changed. The horses needed far more care and maintenance than the vehicles they pulled. One bus normally needed five changes of horses each day.

The buses themselves displayed a confusing jumble of lettering, which included the name of the operating company, the route destination and commercial advertising.

This Thomas Tilling ‘knifeboard’ bus was built around 1875 and operated on the ‘Times’ route between Peckham and Oxford Street until about 1895. It was then sold to the Andrews Star Omnibus Company and used in the Victoria area.

It was rebuilt by Tilling’s in the 1920s, before being sold to the London General Omnibus Company (LGOC), as one of the first London buses to be preserved for posterity.

It took part in celebrations to mark the centenary of George Shillibeer’s pioneering 1829 service. It was then kept in a small museum at the LGOC’s Chiswick Works, where a collection of historic vehicles and objects was starting to grow. 

These artefacts were first put on public display at the Museum of British Transport at Clapham in the 1960s. The bus was overhauled and re-painted at Chiswick in 1979 and has been on display here at London Transport Museum in Covent Garden since 1980.