''Horse-drawn transport first made its appearance in Southampton at the commencement of the 1800's, when horse-drawn omnibuses were introduced. By the time the Southampton Street Tramways Act of 1877 authorised the construction of the first tramway in the town, horse-drawn omnibuses were operating on several routes, including to Shirley, to which destination William Bevis ran ten trips daily in 1879.
Construction of the tramway, built by the Southampton Tramways Company, led to the demise of many of the horse buses. The first route to be opened on the new system ran from Alma Road, in a north-south direction, to Above Bar Street and commenced on the 5th May 1879. The following day extensions were opened at each end of the line to Portswood and to the floating bridge across the River Itchen. On the 9th June 1879 a second line was brought into use, running from the end of Above Bar Street ('The Junction') to Shirley High Street. Both routes were single-track lines.
The initial rolling stock consisted of six single-deck and nine double-deck cars (probably built by Starbuck), numbered 1-15 and housed at the Company's depots at Portswood and Shirley. In 1887 the Company began operating horse-buses purchased from Solomon Andrews of Cardiff, which were used to inaugurate a route between the Floating Bridge and the Common via St. Mary's Road. An hourly service was also operated from the Commercial Road Junction to Bitterne Park, which by 1892 had been extended to the Weighbridge (near the Clock Tower in Above Bar). The horse buses passed to Southampton Corporation with the rest of the undertaking in 1898.
In 1896 the Corporation purchased the Southampton Electric Light and Power Company and took control of the provision of electricity for the town. On the 30th June 1898, Southampton Corporation exercised its right to buy the tramway in order to electrify it.
Despite the fact that the Tramway Company had re-laid much of their track only a few years previously, all the tracks had to be renewed for the electric cars. Whilst this work was progressing, the horse-buses and horse-trams kept the service going.
The first section to be electrified was that between Shirley and 'The Junction', which was opened on the 22nd January 1900, followed in May of the same year by the section between Holy Rood and Stag Gates. The Stag Gates service was extended to Portswood Junction later that year. In the meantime the horse-trams continued to be used and it was not until 3rd August 1901, when the stretch of line from the Ordnance College to the Docks was completed, that the last horse-drawn tram ran. Further extensions to the system followed; in 1902 lines from St. Denys to Bitterne Park, and from the Docks to the Floating Bridge were opened. The following year services to Bevois Hill from Onslow, to The Common from Stag Gates, and an extension from Portswood to Hampton Park commenced.''