A lively coaching scene by John Charles Maggs set outside the Crown Inn, Bath. A passenger can be seen waving to approaching figures as others alight from the stagecoach. The first regular stage coach from London to Bath started in 1667 running 3 times a week, with a daily service beginning in 1711. On Monday 2 August, 1784, the first mail-coach in England set out between London and Bristol, stopping at Bath and provided a quicker and safer way of transporting mail as well as passengers. The Bath Road, (A4) was the main road linking Bristol and London and it took 2 days for passengers to travel between Bath and London.

At its peak in 1836, 10 stagecoaches were carrying passengers along the Bath Road. However by the end of the 19th century this method of transporting mail and passengers had been replaced by the railways. The Crown Inn was one of a number of inns that sprang up after the London-Bath route was opened. By the mid-18th century, England was crisscrossed with coach routes, and hundreds of inns were spread out at seven to 10-mile stages across the land. Coaching inns provided refreshment, lodging, and fresh horses for weary travellers.

John Charles Maggs was a well-known coaching scene painter who was born at 5 James Street, Bath in 1819. His father, James Maggs was an artist and furniture japanner and his uncle was a portrait painter. He studied in Italy for 2 years before returning to Bath where he established himself as a painter and began to specialise in coaching scenes.

He ran a school of painting at his studio located at 34 Gay Street, known as the Bath Art Studio, where his daughter assisted him. Although he does not appear to have exhibited he enjoyed great popularity during his lifetime winning important patrons such as Queen Victoria, the Duke of Beaufort and Joseph Grego. He died at his home in Bath on 3 November, 1896 aged 77.