The word ‘hackney’ derives from the place name Hackney in London which supplied horses from the surrounding meadows. An ordinance for the regulation of hackney coachmen in London was approved by the English Parliament in 1654 to “remedy the many inconveniences [that] do daily arise by reason of the late increase and great irregularity of coaches and coachmen.” The first hackney carriage licences date from 1662. Licences applied literally to horse-drawn carriages, later modernised to ‘hansom cabs’ that operated as vehicles for hire.
In 1916, the Galway Urban District Council brought in bye-laws to be observed by owners and drivers of hackney carriages. “Whereas under and by virtue of the said Acts, the Council is empowered and authorised to license to ply for hire as therein mentioned such number of hackney carriages of any kind or description adapted to the carriage of persons as they may think fit.
“The first Monday in July each year shall be the Annual Licensing Day. The license fee will be one shilling and the license will be in force for one year. Every hackney carriage will be in good and perfect condition and clean, and harness, tackling and accoutrements shall be in good and sufficient order and repair, and the horse or horses shall be able and sufficient. Every hackney carriage shall have a number plate on which shall be exhibited a number corresponding to the number on the license. The penalty for non-observance of any of the bye-laws shall in every case be any sum not exceeding forty shillings for each and every offence.”
In 1923, a number of horse owners were summoned at the Galway District Court for ill-treating their charges and exemplary fines were imposed.
That same year, in a sign of the changing times, the hackney motor owners section of the IMEWU met to discuss the present situation of owners of motor cars for hire. Several spoke of the hardships they had to undergo in the past few years, the danger attendant to travel, the cessation of sporting events and the unusually small number of holiday visitors. It was ultimately decided to maintain the mileage rate of one shilling.
The motor car was taking over from the horse. However, during World War II when petrol was very scarce and there were few cars on the road, the horse came into its own again. Our photograph today is of a wartime line up of hackneys in Eyre Square, all waiting to take people to the races.
Today, a hackney should be hired on a private hire basis by phone, email, or by direct contact. They cannot be hailed down in a public place and have no licence to use bus lanes. A taxi can stand for hire or ply for business on the street.
