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Paris Nouveau no. 2311 – Les Femmes Cocher

Source:
postcards.delcampe.net (Item no. 0003141815). Click here to view source.

Les Femmes Cocher / 45

Mme. Moser / 8

Picture (left): The delicate question of the tip after a delightful drive in the Bois de Boulogne.

In England the custom of tipping goes back at least to the early 1700's, judging by references in the Oxford English Dictionary, but up until the late 1800's London cab riders were very loathe to tip their drivers. Drivers who requested payment above the legal fare were liable to be prosecuted for overcharging.

The climate apparently changed in the 1880s. An etiquette book published in 1888 for Americans in England advised that "London 'cabbies' are a hard-worked set of men and as a general thing have to earn the day's hire of a cab – about seventeen shillings – before they can clear any profit for themselves. If any men are deserving of a tip it is they."