Clarence (carriage) Clarence (carriage) A clarence is a type of carriage that was popular in the early 19th century. It is a closed, four-wheeled horse-drawn vehicle with a projecting glass front and seats for four passengers inside. The driver sat at the front, outside the carriage. The clarence was named after Prince William, Duke of Clarence and St Andrews, later to become King William IV of England, who died in 1837. It was introduced in 1840 in London. The Brougham was a lighter, two-passenger version originally commissioned by Lord Brougham. In time, second-hand clarences came to be used as hackney carriages, earning
Herdic Phaeton Company added from East Capitol and 11th Street to 15th and T NW in 1883. Other lines were added in downtown in 1886 along I Street, K Street and 13th Streets NW. The electric streetcar, however, was too much for the company to compete with and when its principal stockholder died in 1896 it ceased operations. Photo of a Herdic Omnibus and gingerbread waiting station at Lafayette Square in 1891. Two of the company's waiting stations, nicknamed "herdics", still exist on the Capitol grounds near the East Front. Herdic Phaeton Company The Herdic Phaeton Company was a late 19th Century horse