THE SORRIEST JADE, EXETER, 1842.

On Saturday 22nd January 1842,  John Carter, who owned a cab, was sued by William Camden, who had been his "cad",  that is to say he had been the driver of Carter's cab.   Camden was suing for wages earned but not paid.  Camden told the magistrates how he came to leave Carter's service:

" the horse being in a very crippled state, and only half fed, he was constantly tumbling down, and was altogether unfit for work, there being, in fact, "no  go" in him. Disgusted with the service he quitted Carter's employment, and applied for the payment of the wages due to him; but finding that also to be "no-go" he summoned Carter for the amount.

"Carter said complainant had quitted his service without notice and had frequently neglected his work; he also denied that his horse corresponded to the complainant's description - said his horse was well-fed, and his carriage in complete order; but Mr. Canning, inspector of police, said the animal was the sorriest jade he had ever seen, and the Mayor reminded complainant (sic) that on a recent occasion he had sent his fly to his house with one of the glasses broken, which obliged his worship to send it back.

"The Bench after telling Carter that he was liable to an action for working such a crippled and ill-used animal, ordered him to pay the amount, with costs.

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There is a sentence in Sketches by Boz (1839) as follows:  "We are not aware of any instance on record in which a cab-horse has performed three consecutive miles without going down once.  What of that?  It is all excitement."   Even allowing for Dickensian hyperbole this is an alarming comment but perhaps in Exeter, as opposed to London, it was only John Carter whose horse was constantly tumbling down.   I think I remember Anna Sewell's  Black Beauty (1871)  also had a bad time with the London cab-drivers.

"Cad" is clearly being used in Exeter for a cab-driver.  The word seems to derive from "cadet".  Cadets, younger sons,  I suppose, being junior were by a perverse extension seen as inferiors, hence, as here, as servants and essentially low and vulgar persons.  The conductor on the horse-drawn omnibuses was known as the cad.  These days, I think, you have to be posh to be a cad.  Like Cardew Robinson or the chap who went into the jungle to live with a female gorilla.  (Nothing queer about Carruthers!)

It was clearly a bad move to send a cab with one of its glasses broken to the house of His Worshipful, Exeter's Chief Magistrate!

Source: The Western Times, 22nd January 1842.