Caravan Pioneers - The National Motor Museum Trust

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suffrage movement which campaigned for votes for women. Many middleclass ladies rebelled against traditional society and took up outdoor hobbies normally enjoyed by men such as cycling, shooting and golf. The Caravan Club offered a haven of equality for these modern ladies who were welcomed into the organisation and even found the opportunity to be elected to the committee. Lady caravanners explored the country freely with friends, family or their servants, some even using their caravans to spread the word of the suffrage campaign. Figure 3: Caravan Club member Miss Simmons and her party at The Club’s New Forest Meet, Cadnam, Hampshire, 1914. Despite a growing passion for horse-drawn caravanning the pursuit was coming under an increasing threat from the fast paced motor vehicle. A few Caravan Club members owned motor caravans, a motorised vehicle with a self-contained living space. These were believed by many to be the future of the caravan. However, traditional horse-drawn caravanners believed that the speedy, noisy motor ʼvan opposed the very spirit of the slow paced caravan holiday. The motor caravan was not the only threat on the horizon for the future of the hobby. In 1914 leisure and enjoyment was put on hold as Britain entered the devastating conflict of the Great War. Numerous Caravan Club members enlisted for service and some were never to return. Major Cecil Wedgwood, the Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent and Chairman of the Wedgwood Pottery, was one member killed in action at the Battle of the Somme. Others served away from the front line to great distinction such as Captain Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming, the first director of the Secret Intelligence Service, more commonly known as MI6. The Caravan Club itself aided the war effort by supplying members’ caravans to the Red Cross, and later sending fifty ‘vans across the Channel for use as mobile headquarters. The National Motor Museum Trust : Beaulieu : Brockenhurst : Hampshire : SO42 7ZN 4
Figure 4: Founder of The Caravan Club J Harris Stone pictured with his caravan. The First World War had brought about a great advance in the design of motor vehicles that would change the future of caravanning. As the conflict ended motoring became an increasingly popular way to travel. In 1919 a number of small manufacturers, aware of the bright future of motoring, launched the first commercially produced trailer caravans towable by a car. These new compact ʼvans attracted a new generation of modern caravanners seeking relaxation and adventure after years at war. Many new companies followed suit, competing to produce affordable and fashionable caravans for the growing number of motorists. The golden age of horse-drawn caravanning became a fleeting moment in history. By the 1930s the occasional solitary horse-drawn caravan could still be spotted on British roads, yet so rare were they that people greeted them with the same curiosity as when The Wanderer first took to the road back in 1885. The National Motor Museum Trust : Beaulieu : Brockenhurst : Hampshire : SO42 7ZN 5
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Caravan Pioneers - The National Motor Museum Trust

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