A watering station. From the 1600s to the mid-1800s "watermen" brought buckets of water to the cabstand in exchange for tips from drivers. By the 1850s the waterman was a quasi-police official, enforcing cabstand regulations and charging a fee from each cab coming onto the stand and for each fare taken off the stand. Later, watermen were abolished and the stands became self-regulated. Cab drivers were now encouraged to water their horses at free troughs set up around London by the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. The name "Old Lion" on the water buckets suggests that this watering station may have been sponsored by a nearby pub. Pubs were one business that benefited from cab traffic. Source: Outing magazine, vol. XLV, 1904, p. 152.