# Postilion

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Rider of horse while driving a carriage

"Postillion" redirects here. For ships of the Royal Navy, see [HMS *Postillion*](/source/HMS_Postillion).

This coach, designed without a driver's seat, and is guided by a postilion riding the left-side horse.

Postilions control the horses drawing the [Queen's coach](/source/Diamond_Jubilee_State_Coach) at the [State Opening of Parliament](/source/State_Opening_of_Parliament), London 2015.

Postilions at the [state funeral of Ronald Reagan](/source/Death_and_state_funeral_of_Ronald_Reagan), 2004

[ANZAC](/source/I_ANZAC_Corps) horses and postilions struggle to move a gun, [Passchendaele](/source/Second_Battle_of_Passchendaele), 1917, by [Harold Septimus Power](/source/Harold_Septimus_Power).

A **postilion** or **postillion** is a person who rides a harnessed horse that is pulling a horse-drawn vehicle such as a [coach](/source/Coach_(carriage)), rather than driving from behind as a [coachman](/source/Coachman) does. This method is used for pulling wheeled vehicles that do not have a driver's seat, such as many ceremonial [state coaches](/source/State_coach) and artillery [limbers and caissons](/source/Limbers_and_caissons). Postilion riders are generally arranged one rider for each pair of horses, riding the left horse.[1][2][3]: 373

Originally the English name for a guide or forerunner for the post (mail) or a messenger, it became transferred to the actual [mail carrier](/source/Mail_carrier) or messenger and also to a person who rides a [(hired) post horse](/source/Stage_station#Posting_and_staging). The same persons made themselves available as a less expensive alternative to hiring a coachman, particularly for light, fast vehicles.

A carriage or coach that was arranged without a driver's seat and intended for guidance by postilions, had *à la Daumont* appended, such as "coach à la Daumont". Daumont is a corruption of the French *d'Aumont* from the 8th [Duke of Aumont](/source/House_of_Aumont) who preferred this manner of travel.[3]: 121[2]: 62

## Mount

Postilions ride the left or nearside[note 1] mount because horses are mounted from the left.[4][5]: 279 With a double team there could be two postilions, one for each pair,[5]: 282–283, 107 or, especially in France, one postilion would ride on the left wheel (rear) horse in order to control all four horses.[6]: 314

## Livery

[Royal Mews](/source/Royal_Mews) postilion livery

The postilion wears a full-dress [livery](/source/Livery) with a short jacket reaching to the waist only and decorated with gold lace and gilt buttons. A white shirt and [stock tie](/source/Stock_tie), white leather breeches, white gloves, decorated cap, boots with brown tops, and an iron leg-guard on the [right] leg to protect it from the battering of the carriage pole.

— Thomas Ryder in *Fashion on Wheels*[7]

## Purposes

- Privacy for passengers in their conversations.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

- Better control of the horses, for example, when moving guns at high speed on a battlefield.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

- Extravagant display by their noble owner, as when attending a state occasion. The display might extend to liveried men walking on foot beside each horse.[*[citation needed](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)*]

## Travel by post

This style of travel was known as "posting".[5]: 278 The postilions and their horses (known as "post-horses")[5]: 282 would be hired from a "postmaster" at a ["post house"](/source/Stage_station).[5]: 282 The carriage would travel from one post house to the next (a journey known as a "stage"), where the postilions and/or spent (exhausted) horses could be replaced if necessary.[5]: 282 In practice unless a return hire was anticipated a postilion of a spent team frequently was also responsible for returning them to the originating post house.

Posting was once common both in England and in continental Europe.[5]: 279–280 In addition to a carriage's obvious advantages (a degree of safety and shelter for the inside passengers and accessibility to non-riders) on long trips it tended to be the most rapid form of passenger travel. Individually mounted riders are subject to their personal endurance limits, while posting could continue indefinitely with brief stops for fresh horses and crew. In England, posting declined once [railways](/source/Railway) became an alternative method of transport,[5]: 282 but it remained popular in [France](/source/France) and other countries.

## Artillery

King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery

Six-horse [Royal Horse Artillery](/source/Royal_Horse_Artillery) team with [13-pounder cannon](/source/Ordnance_QF_13_pounder) at speed during the [First World War](/source/First_World_War)

The gun detachments of the [King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery](/source/King's_Troop%2C_Royal_Horse_Artillery) are each driven by a team of three post riders. The King's Troop is a ceremonial unit equipped with World War I veteran [13-pounder field guns](/source/Ordnance_QF_13-pounder) drawn by six horses in much the same configuration as the guns of the 19th and early 20th century would have been. Officers and senior non-commissioned officers ride separately.

The [United States Army's Old Guard Caisson Platoon](/source/3rd_U.S._Infantry_Regiment_(The_Old_Guard)#Specialty_units) also rides postilion. The section sergeant, on a separate horse, is in charge of the team and there are six other horses teamed together. This configuration is used at [Arlington National Cemetery](/source/Arlington_National_Cemetery).[8]

## Derivative terminology and use

To adapt to the rigours of horses traveling long distances at a [trot](/source/Trot), postillion riders adapted a method of rising and falling with the rhythm of the horse's [gait](/source/Horse_gait) and given the name "posting" or "posting to the trot."

## See also

- *[Le postillon de Lonjumeau](/source/Le_postillon_de_Lonjumeau)*, an 1836 French comic opera by [Adolphe Adam](/source/Adolphe_Adam).

- "[My postillion has been struck by lightning](/source/My_postillion_has_been_struck_by_lightning)". A comical phrase supposedly found in old-fashioned foreign language phrase books. It was adapted by [Dirk Bogarde](/source/Dirk_Bogarde) as the title of his first autobiographical memoir (1977).

- *[Der Postillon](/source/Der_Postillon)*, German satirical news site.

## Notes

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Because horses are mounted from the horse's left side (the horse prefers no surprises) that side is nearest to the rider. The postilion rides the left horse of the pair because there is no access to the right-hand horse from its left-hand side.

## References

Look up ***[postilion](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Special:Search/postilion)*** in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Postillions](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Postillions).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-walrond79_1-0)** Walrond, Sallie (1979). *The Encyclopaedia of Driving*. Country Life Books. p. 216. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0600331822](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0600331822). [OL](/source/OL_(identifier)) [4175648M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL4175648M).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-smith_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-smith_2-1) Smith, D.J.M. (1988). *A Dictionary of Horse Drawn Vehicles*. J. A. Allen & Co. Ltd. p. 62. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0851314686](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0851314686). [OL](/source/OL_(identifier)) [11597864M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL11597864M).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-berkebile1978_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-berkebile1978_3-1) Berkebile, Donald H. (1978). *Carriage Terminology: An Historical Dictionary*. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781935623434](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781935623434). [OL](/source/OL_(identifier)) [33342342M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL33342342M).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Which side of the road do they drive on?](http://www.brianlucas.ca/roadside) Brian Lucas.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-rogers_6-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-rogers_6-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-rogers_6-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-rogers_6-3) [***e***](#cite_ref-rogers_6-4) [***f***](#cite_ref-rogers_6-5) [***g***](#cite_ref-rogers_6-6) [***h***](#cite_ref-rogers_6-7) Rogers, Fairman (1899). *Manual of Coaching*. [J. B. Lippincott Company](/source/J._B._Lippincott_Company). [OL](/source/OL_(identifier)) [20478464M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL20478464M).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-beaufort_7-0)** [Beaufort, Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset (Duke of Beaufort)](/source/Henry_Somerset%2C_8th_Duke_of_Beaufort) (1901). *Driving*. London: Longmans, Green, and Co. [OL](/source/OL_(identifier)) [22878921M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL22878921M).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** Ryder, Thomas (1984). "Fashion on Wheels". *Man and the Horse: An Illustrated History of Equestrian Apparel*. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.), Simon & Schuster, New York. p. 94. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0870994115](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0870994115). [OL](/source/OL_(identifier)) [2859979M](https://openlibrary.org/books/OL2859979M). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0671555200](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0671555200)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** ["The Old Guard - Caisson Platoon"](https://web.archive.org/web/20100228155422/http://www.army.mil/info/organization/unitsandcommands/commandstructure/theoldguard/specplt/caisson.htm). Archived from [the original](http://www.army.mil/info/organization/unitsandcommands/commandstructure/theoldguard/specplt/caisson.htm) on 28 February 2010. Retrieved 28 April 2010.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Postilion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postilion) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postilion?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.