Brougham

A brougham was a light, four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage built in the 19th century. It was named after the politician and jurist Lord Brougham, who had this type of carriage built to his specification by London coachbuilder Robinson & Cook in 1838 or 1839. It had an enclosed body with two doors, like the rear section of a coach; it sat two, sometimes with an extra pair of fold-away seats in the front corners, and with a box seat in front for the driver and a footman or passenger. Unlike a coach, the carriage had a glazed front window, so that the occupants could see forward. The forewheels were capable of turning sharply. A variant, called a brougham-landaulet, had a top collapsible from the rear doors backward. Four features specific to the Brougham were: the absence of a perch - the spring hangers were mounted directly to the body structure, saving weight and lowering the floor, to ease entry the sharply squared end of the roof at the back, the body line curving forward at the base of the enclosure, and low entry to the enclosure, using only one outside step below the door. In popular culture Broughams are a common means of transport in the Sherlock Holmes stories.