SPECIAL HISTORY Winchester Caravans works in its heyday of the 1930s
FOUNDING FATHER
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A 1920s advert for Bertram Hutchings Caravans Limited, promoting horse-drawn, motor and trailer caravans
92 August 2023
his summer, the Caravan and Motorhome Club’s Collection will be celebrating one of the most prestigious British caravan builders of the 20th Century. Hampshire Archives and Local Studies is hosting ‘Homes on Wheels – The Story of Winchester Caravans’, an exhibition about the life and work of Bertram Hutchings. Hutchings founded Winchester Caravans, which operated from 1911 until 1958, seeing out two World Wars. On display will be photographs, ephemera and journals from the Hutchings archive, which is kept in the Club’s Collection at the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu. Here we take a closer look at the remarkable story of Bertram Hutchings, and the fascinating artefacts we’ll be showing at the exhibition. Bertram Hutchings was born in Winchester in 1886, a year after Dr William Gordon Stables took to the road in the world’s first, purpose-built leisure touring caravan, The
Angela Willis, Curator of the Club’s Collection, introduces a new exhibition that tells the story of Winchester Caravans
Wanderer. This new vogue for caravanning, which captured the imagination of many wealthy Victorians and Edwardians, was to shape the young Bertram’s later life. By early adulthood, Bertram had developed a passion for outdoor activities, including cycling and camping, which he coupled with an interest in food reform. In 1910, at the age of 24, this young entrepreneur left his apprenticeship at a Winchester printmaker’s and opened ‘The Healtheries’, a health-food shop promoting a natural fruit-and-nut-based diet. The pursuit of a healthy lifestyle led Hutchings to commission his first caravan from his then-prospective father-in-law, who was a ‘Cart, Van and Carriage Builder’. Once married, Hutchings and his wife, Grace Ings, spent several months living in the caravan. Bertram refined the vehicle’s design, the result being a second, much lighter van. This ‘Maisonette’ model heralded Hutchings’ new business venture and several vans quickly followed, designed to be hired to a rapidly growing number of caravanners. www.camc.com