Newport Firsts by Brian M. Stinson

Author:Brian M. Stinson [Stinson, Brian M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, United States, State & Local, New England (CT; MA; ME; NH; RI; VT), Photography, Subjects & Themes, Regional, Historical
ISBN: 9781540228604
Google: pH3TtQEACAAJ
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing (SC)
Published: 2018-04-02T16:01:14+00:00

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NEWPORT WAS THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE FIRST AMERICAN TO INTRODUCE COACHING AS A PASTIME AND TO IMPORT THE FIRST FOUR-IN-HAND COACH TO THE UNITED STATES

(1875)

Delancy A. Kane was the great-grandson of John Jacob Astor. He was born on August 28, 1844, on Bath Road opposite Red Cross Avenue in a house that was not his father’s Beach Cliffe—that famous mansion was not constructed until 1852. Bath Road is now Memorial Boulevard.

He spent his early years in Newport and, as a young man, accompanied his parents to England, where he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, England. Upon returning to this country, Kane entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and graduated at the age of twenty-four before serving as a lieutenant in the First U.S. Cavalry. After his service was completed, he married Eleanora Iselin in 1872 while studying law at Columbia in New York. He was admitted to the bar in the following year but never practiced law.

Colonel Kane was very enthusiastic about coaching and was considered to be one of the best whips. He pioneered the introduction of coaching to the United States as a pastime in 1875. Coaching was the premier form of sport driving. He is also credited with bringing the first four-in-hand coach to America from England (“four-in-hand” applies to any vehicle with four horses). Built by Holland and Holland of London, England, he named his coach “Tally Ho.” It became so famous that the term “tallyho” became universally known in America and is often incorrectly applied to all coaches and drags.

Colonel Kane spent much of his time in England, but at various times over the course of his life he maintained a residence in Newport and considered himself a native Newporter. Around the turn of the twentieth century, he made a permanent home here and took an active interest in public affairs. He represented the Fifth Ward as an alderman and served one year (1906) as the elected president of that body.

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