Reading Tramways Company
Summary
Photographs depicting staff of the Reading Tramways Company are surprisingly common, so it is possible to describe with some degree of accuracy the attire that was worn over the entire course of the company's 22-year existence. Photos from the early days of operation show staff wearing informal but smart attire (jackets, shirts and ties), along with the fashionable headgear of the day: flat caps, bowler hats, and even top hats. This was very much the 'norm' for late Victorian horse tramways, with relatively few operators choosing to issue uniforms.
Although several later photos exist which show uniformed staff with horsecars bearing the tramway company's device, it seems highly likely that these were in fact taken after the corporation take-over of 1901. It undoubtedly took the corporation some considerable time to repaint the entire fleet following its acquisition, and with photos surviving which show staff in identical uniforms, both with company-liveried and corporation-liveried horsecars, in all probability the uniforms were only issued following the corporation take-over.
In later years, drivers wore a large oval licence consisting of white letters (and numerals) on a dark background, almost certainly enamel. It is currently unclear whether these were issued before or after municipalisation.
It is currently unclear what uniforms, if any, inspectors wore, or indeed, if the company even employed them.
For a pictorial history of the town's tramways, see: "Reading Tramways" by Edgar Jordan; Middleton Press (1996).
Images
Reading Tramways Company Horsecar No 4, photographed at the terminus in Grovelands Rd — photo undated, but probably taken in the 1880s given that this tram was replaced by a new double-deck vehicle in 1890. Both the driver and conductor are wearing informal but reasonably smart attire, and neither has a municipal licence. Photo courtesy of the Tramways and Light Railway Society, with thanks to David Voice.
Top-hatted driver and his conductor (in soft-top cap) pose for the camera with Horsecar No 6 in Oxford Rd in 1893. Both men are smartly but informally attired. Photo courtesy of the Tramways and Light Railway Society, with thanks to David Voice.
Two very young crewmen pose with Horsecar No 5 — photo undated, but probably taken around the time of the corporation take-over. Although the horsecar clearly bears the device of the Tramway Company, this does not necessarily mean that the photo pre-dates the corporation take-over. Both men are wearing squat, kepi-style caps, whilst the driver sports a large oval licence comprising white letters (and a numeral) on a dark background. The driver's jacket also appears to have some kind of embroidered badge on the upper lapels. Photo courtesy of the Tramways and Light Railway Society, with thanks to David Voice.