afternoon tea once in my life, and that was with the Duke of Sutherland”. Her arrival in various ports around the world was often reported upon in the local press – followed by a sigh of relief when she departed. Unfortunately one has the impression the same might be said about her departure from life in 1890. Her obituary as reported in foreign papers was blunt and concise:

Mrs. Giacometti Prodgers, the terror of London cabmen, is dead. Her habit was to drive the fullest possible distance for the money, pay the exact legal fare, and then cause the arrest of the cabman for expressing his feelings.

Works

Section on Mrs Prodgers from Omnibuses and Cabs: their origin and history (1902), by Henry Charles Moore.

Cartoon ‘The Cabman’s Shelter’ from Punch magazine,March 6th 1875, pp.106.

‘The Groan of the Growler’, poem on Mrs Prodgers and the new automatic cab meter, from Punch, Vol. 99., August 23rd 1890.

The London Hackney Cab Faros and Distances, Giving Nearly Thirteen Thousand Distances in Miles (1853), by The Commissioner of Police for the City of London.

Index to the streets, squares, and cab stands, comprised in Mogg’s new cab fare, distance map, and guide to London: containing three thousand places, with references to their several situations (n.d.), by Edward L. Mogg.

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