The Hitchin Cabmen’s Shelter

Its rescue, restoration and return to the town

Priscilla Douglas and Pauline Humphries

Cabmen's ShelterConditions were grim for the ‘cabbie’ as he plied for hire with his horse-drawn cab outside Hitchin’s railway station. Life improved with the arrival of a shelter on the forecourt which became a haven for generations of local taxi drivers. Now obsolete, this same shelter lay half-forgotten in a local garden until exciting the attention of Hitchin Historical Society.

In a year of remarkable co-operation, local companies and private individuals worked to restore this little example of Edwardian philanthropy and return it to the town. This is their story.

About the Authors

Scilla Douglas was the Society’s President, and Chair of the Committee for many years. She died in 2015. Pauline was the Society Publications Officer for very many years and is a long-standing member of the society. Both were former local secondary school teachers.

To order a copy, contact the Society’s Publications Officer.

Price: £2   Further reduced price – now only 50p
ISBN: 978-0-9926162-1-2
Publisher: ©Hitchin Historical Society 1998
Printed in England by: Streets Printers, Royston Road, Baldock, Herts SG7 6NW