![On the banks of Lake Achen, Austria, in September 1890: Bertha and Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in Emanuel Schmid’s horse-drawn carriage.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/im-september-1890-am-achensee-bertha-und-wilhelm-conrad-rontgen-in-emanuel-schmids-landauer-300x225.jpg)
Emmanuel Schmid: coachman to the social elite during the Belle Époque
Coachman Emmanuel Schmid from Graubünden regularly drove his famous passenger Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen around the Alps in the late 19th century.
![“An entirely trustworthy driver”…“recommended to anyone wishing to go to the mountains”: travelling with Emmanuel Schmid from Thusis to Bolzano and from Merano to St. Moritz.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/empfehlung-emanuel-schmid-egloff-300x194.jpg)
![Julierpost stagecoach in Savognin, circa 1903](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/die-julierpost-in-savognin-um-1903-300x193.jpg)
![Unaffordable for ordinary folk: the prices charged by a Graubünden coachman in 1879.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/bundner-lohnkutscher-tarif-1879-192x300.jpg)
![Stopover: the Hotel Löwe & Post in Mulegns, on the road leading to the Julier Pass, circa 1900.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/hotel-loewe-mulegns-gbe-116209-lm-76914-300x189.jpg)
![Left-hand side: “Emanuel Schmid drove me and my family from Chur to Biasca, and I would like to express my complete satisfaction with the carriage and horses, Mr Schmid’s talent as a coachman, and his courteous and friendly manner. Biasca 31 Aug [18]82, Leopold Iklé from St. Gallen”.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/ikle-lohnkutschrei-1882-300x201.jpg)
![Left-hand side: In clear and neat handwriting, high praise from the future Nobel laureate.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/lob-von-wilhelm-conrad-rontgen-300x199.jpg)
![Photo of the Röntgens, 1890 in Finstermünz, Austria: in the coach sits Professor Röntgen’s wife, Bertha Röntgen-Ludwig, and in the driving seat, coachman Emmanuel Schmid.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/Gruppenbild-mit-Damen1890-Emanuel-Schmid-Roentgen-300x211.jpg)
![Graubünden was the last canton to allow motorised vehicles on its roads. Referendum leaflet supporting ban on automobiles, 1927.](https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/app/uploads/strassengesetz-nein-1925-254x300.jpg)
Coachman Emmanuel Schmid from Graubünden regularly drove his famous passenger Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen around the Alps in the late 19th century.