London's black cabs descend from 17th-century hackney coaches
No law has ever required London taxis to be black. They simply came in one standard colour after the Second World War, and the nickname black cab caught on in the 1970s. The official term, hackney carriage, is far older, going back to hired coaches that clogged the city's narrow streets in the 1600s.
Where the word hackney comes from is uncertain. Many link it to the London district of Hackney, probably Old English for Haka's island; others prefer the French haquenée, a medium-sized, easy-riding horse often available for hire. The first hired coaches were shabby cast-offs from the nobility. They were plying London's streets by the early 1600s, became numerous enough in the 1620s to be seen as a menace to pedestrians, and were brought under Parliament's regulation in 1654. The first licences followed an act of 1662.
Vehicles slimmed down over time. A hackney coach originally meant four wheels, two horses and six seats, including one outside for the driver, popularly called the jarvey. Then came two-wheeled cabriolets, the source of the word cab, and in 1834 Joseph Hansom patented his nimble hansom cab. From 1836 the four-wheeled Clarence, nicknamed the growler for the racket it made on cobbles, carried larger groups with luggage. Remarkably, electric cabs arrived before petrol ones: in 1897 the London Electrical Cab Company introduced its Berseys, also called Hummingbirds for their sound.
Legally, a hackney carriage can cruise the streets and pick up anyone who hails it, while private hire minicabs may only take pre-booked passengers. London drivers must pass The Knowledge, a test of intimate familiarity with the city's streets and landmarks; other councils set their own rules. In the 1920s Beardmore cabs, dubbed the Rolls-Royce of cabs, were the favourites, and today many operators choose wheelchair-accessible models such as the LEVC TX.
The British exported the system across their empire, and horse-drawn hackneys survive in places such as Cockington in Torquay. Windsor is the last UK town with an unbroken line of them, its licence handed from driver to driver since the 1830s.
Source: Hackney carriage
