author
Edward Corbett
1817–1895
Remembered as a Shropshire landowner, Conservative MP, and enthusiastic coachman, this late-Victorian writer brought practical knowledge and personal experience to his book on horse-drawn travel. His best-known work offers a lively window into the world of coaching just as it was fading from everyday life.
1 Audiobook
An Old Coachman's Chatter, with Some Practical Remarks on Driving
by Edward Corbett
About the author
Born on 30 December 1817, he came from an old Shropshire family and was associated with Longnor Hall. He later served as a Conservative member of Parliament for South Shropshire from 1868 to 1877, and was also known as Colonel Edward Corbett.
For audiobook listeners, he is best known as the author of An Old Coachman's Chatter, with Some Practical Remarks on Driving, published in 1890. The book draws on his experience as a "semi-professional" coachman and mixes anecdote with hands-on advice, making it both a memoir of the road and a practical guide to driving horse-drawn vehicles.
He died on 6 January 1895. Today, his writing stands out less for public life than for the vivid way it preserves a disappearing culture of mail coaches, horses, and long-distance travel.