What was a Sedan chair?

A Sedan was a covered chair on two poles, which was carried through the streets by two’ men. The chair was box-shaped, with two windows and a door, and the roof was made so that it could be lifted should the passenger wish to stand in the chair -rather a dangerous thing to do! The porters carried the’ chair by the two long poles between which the chair was fixed, and this kind of transport was popular in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The name comes from the French town of Sedan, where this kind of transport is said to have originated.