Landport and Southsea Tramway

History
Powers to construct a short tramway between the Joint Railway Station in Landport (operated by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway Company, and the London South Western Railway Company) and Clarence Pier in Southsea, were granted on the 8th June 1863 under the Landport and Southsea Tramway Act, 1863. The latter was formally titled 'An Act for making a Tramway in the Parish of Portsea in the County of Southampton; and for other Purposes'.

The circa 1.04-mile, 4ft 7¾ins-gauge horse tramway opened for business on the 15th May 1865, and was laid with step rails, which protruded from the road surface, and which were, therefore, a significant nuisance to other road users. In this form, the line lasted for 10 years, only being relaid in 1875. The line ran southwards from the railway station to Clarence Pier via Commercial Road, Hampshire Terrace, Landport Terrace, Kings Terrace, Jubilee Terrace and Pier Road. Although the tramway line was subsequently extended, this was not under powers held by the L&STCo.

On the 29th August 1873, an agreement was reached with a new company, the Portsmouth Street Tramways Company, to run over a section of the L&STCo's tracks, the first but certainly not the last example of Portsmouth's horse tramway operators working cooperatively.

On the 2nd October 1876, the Portsea Extension Railway was opened to the Harbour Pier, ferry services focusing there shortly afterwards, most through traffic disappearing from the L&STCo's line as a consequence.

In February 1878, the Provincial Tramways Company, which was registered on the 10th July 1872, and which owned the L&STCo's close neighbour, the Portsmouth Tramways Company, approved the acquisition of the L&STCo and another Portsmouth horse tramway company, the General Tramways Company of Portsmouth, having already agreed this move with the respective companies. The PTCo took over the GTCo on the 11th April 1878, following which a new limited company — the Landport and Southsea Tramway Company Limited — was registered (on the 17th April 1878). Three weeks later, on the 8th May 1878, the L&STCoLtd was formally taken over by the GTCo, the shareholders of the old LSTCo subsequently voting to voluntarily wind up the company on the 18th May 1878.

The old L&ST lines were worked by the GTCo until the 1st September 1883, when the GTCo and the PSTCo, along with the Gosport Street Tramways Company, all of which were owned by the PTCo, were formally amalgamated. Powers for this, as well as the formation of a new statutory company — the Portsmouth Street Tramways Company — were granted on the 16th July 1883, under the Portsmouth Street Tramways (Amalgamation) Act, 1883. The moribund L&STCoLtd was formally struck off the Register of Companies 3 years later on the 3rd September 1886.

Uniforms
Photographs of the horse tramway taken between its opening and amalgamation (1865 to 1883) have not survived, so it is not possible to state whether staff working the L&STCo horse trams wore uniforms. However, given that early photographs (circa 1881) of the PSTCo show staff wearing informal attire, and conductors self-purchased kepi-style caps, it is likely that L&STCo crews wore similar attire.

Drivers and conductors of the PSTCo also wore a large round municipal licence badge, attached to either the coat or in the conductor's case, the cash-bag strap, which again suggests that their equivalents on the L&STCo did likewise.

Following the amalgamation of 1883, tramcar crews would have worked for the newly incorporated PSTCo, and would have worn the same attire as their counterparts elsewhere in Portsmouth (see link).

Further reading
For a detailed history of the area's tramways, see 'Tramways of Portsmouth' by S E Harrison, Light Railway Transport League (1955), and 'Provincial Paper No 2' by Stewart Brett, The Provincial Society (2014).