From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A 1920
Punch cartoon shows UK government
ministers in a charabanc.
A charabanc or "char-à-banc" (pronounced /ˈʃærəbæŋ/)[1] is a
type of horse-drawn vehicle or early motor coach, usually open-topped,
common in Britain during the early part of the 20th century. It was
especially popular for sight-seeing or "works outings" to the country or the
seaside, organised by businesses once a year. The name derives from
the French char à bancs ("carriage with wooden benches"),
[2] the
vehicle having originated in France in the early 19th century.[3]
Although the vehicle has not been common on the roads since the
1920s, a few signs survive from the era; a notable example at Wookey Hole in Somerset
warns that the road to the neighbouring village of Easton is unsuitable for charabancs.[4]
History
Introduced in the 1840s as a French sporting vehicle, the
char à bancs was popular at race meetings and for hunting
or shooting parties. It could be pulled by a Four-in-hand team of horses or
a pair in pole gear. It had two or more rows of crosswise bench
seats, plus a slightly lower rear seat for a groom, and most also
had a slatted trunk for luggage. Initially used by the wealthy,
they were later enlarged with more seats for school or works
excursions and tourist transport, as a cheaper version of the
tourist coach. The first charabanc in Britain was presented to Queen Victoria by Louis Philippe of France and is preserved
in the Royal Mews.[5]
Before World War I, motor charabancs were used mainly for day
trips, as they were not comfortable enough for longer journeys, and
were largely replaced by motor buses in the 1920s.
The word Charabanc pronounced (Shar-a-bang) was still
being used even into the nineteen fifties and even into the very
early sixties. Factory day outings (Annual Works Trips)
during these times were quite common for the workers, especially
for those from the northern weaving mill towns of Lancashire and
Yorkshire. The 1950's were relatively hard times due to national
recovery being slow after the second world war, rationing was still
evident and annual holidays (i.e. wakes weeks) had not really
become established to the poorer workers such as Weavers and
spinners so a days outing to the seaside was a rare treat and all
that some of the workers with large families could afford. The
"Charabanc Trips" were usually only for the adults again due to
finance. Occasionally the mill owner would help to pay for these
outings; however this was not always the case. The Charabancs, or
coaches, were pretty basic vehicles, noisy, uncomfortable and often
poorly upholstered with low backed seats and used mainly for short
journeys to the nearest resort town or the races. Some working mens
clubs also organized days out and these trips were often subsidized
by the clubs themselves from membership subscriptions that had been
paid in throughout the year. A few pennies (pence) a week would be
paid in to a club or mill trip organizer and marked down in a
notebook. This would be paid out to the saver on the day of the
trip for spending money on the day. This day out would often be the
highlight of the year for some workers and the only chance to get
away from the smog and grime of the busy mill towns. Later in the
late sixties and seventies as the mills prospered and things
improved financially the annual "Wakes Week" took over and
a one week mass exodus from northern mill towns during the summer
months took precedence over the charabanc trips and a full weeks
holiday at a holiday camp or in a seaside boarding house for the
full family became the norm instead of a single day out.
Cultural
references
The charabanc is mentioned in Ian Anderson's song, "Wond'ring
Again" from the Jethro Tull compilation Living in the Past:
"Incestuous ancestry's charabanc ride, spawning new millions,
throws the world on its side. Supporting their far-flung illusion,
the national curse, and those with no sandwiches please get off the
bus.". The
Decemberists' song "The Legionnaire's Lament" from the album
Castaways and Cutouts
invokes the French origin of this vehicle and its use for
sight-seeing, as recalled wistfully by a soldier far from home: "On
the old left bank/ my baby in a charabanc/ riding up the width and
length/ of the Champs Elysees." [6] It is
also mentioned in the Stranglers song "Peaches": "Oh shit! There
goes the charabanc. Looks like I'm gonna be stuck here the whole
summer. Well what a bummer."[7]
A charabanc is humorously mentioned in George
Formby's song "Riding In The T.T. Races" depicting a motorcycle
race in the Isle of
Man, where George sings "Once my bike was hard to ride, but I
didn't mind, Until I found they'd hitched a charabanc on
behind.".
The charabanc tour is also the (admittedly vague — see The
Beatles Anthology, episode 6) premise
of The Beatles' 1967
television film Magical Mystery Tour,
in which a group of characters (Spotlight 'oddities', 'lovelies' and The
Beatles themselves) toured Southern England in a mix of music hall tunes/comedy, contemporary psychedelia, and musical set pieces by the
Fab Four.
The charabanc is also notably mentioned in Dylan Thomas's short
story "A Story", also known as "The Outing". [8] In this
piece the young Thomas unintentionally finds himself on the annual
men's charabanc outing to Porthcawl. Within the work the charabanc
is referred to as a 'chara' by way of colloquial Welsh slang.
The book Magnolia Street, a 1932 novel by Louis Golding,
notes that the family went off on their holiday in their
char-à-bancs.
One chapter in the book Cider with Rosie (1959), by Laurie Lee, focuses on
the annual Slad village outing.
The villagers took a particularly bumpy ride in a convoy of
charabancs to Weston-super-Mare, which was young
Laurie's first visit to the seaside.
The Charabanc Theatre Company was co-founded in 1983 by Belfast
native and playwright Marie Jones (b. 1955), who went on to write
Stones in His Pockets, an
Ireland-based play with a two-man cast that ran successfully
locally and in London, and reasonably successfully on Broadway.
Notes
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