Thomas Tilling - Origins

Origins

The company traces its origins to 1846, when Thomas Tilling started in business. Thomas Tilling was born in 1825 at Gutter's Hedge Farm, Hendon, Middlesex, of parents who had moved there from Gloucestershire. In 1846, at the age of 21, he went into the transport business in London as a "Jobmaster" in Walworth using a horse and carriage which cost him £30. In January 1850 he purchased a horse bus together with the right to run four journeys a day between Peckham and Oxford Street. By 1856 he owned 70 horses which he used for bus and general carriage work. When the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was formed in 1866, Thomas Tilling was contracted to train and supply horses to haul the fire engines; the horses were trained to respond quickly and, prior to handover to the fire brigade, were employed on bus services (primarily the Peckham route) to gain experience of heavy traffic. Tilling soon became the biggest supplier of horsepower and vehicles in London having a stable of 4,000 horses by the time of his death in 1893. Thomas Tilling is buried at Nunhead Cemetery.

Tilling's horse buses stopped at predetermined points and ran to a fixed timetable, making them more punctual and orderly than the other operators' buses. This was one of the reasons for his success with customers. Because his buses operated on time, they earned the nickname of 'Times' buses, and this became the fleet name painted on the side.