Dates

• Existence: Established c1920 - 1921

Biography

Butlin, although better known for the popular holiday camps established by Sir William Heygate Edmund Colborne Butlin (1899-1980), came from the Hill family of fairground showmen and women, who travelled around the south west of England. William started to travel the British fairs with his uncle Marshall Hill, after being released from service at the end of the First World War.

During the interwar years, William, who was becoming an ambitious and shrewd businessman, soon bought a hoopla stall from his uncle and started to travel it around the fairgrounds. Having achieved success with his stall, William decided to open a permanent stall in Olympia, to complement other amusements around the Bertram Mills Circus. While William’s mother run the Olympia stall, he continued to travel the fairs with the Hills family and expand that side of the business. During the second part of the 1920s he opened several permanent gaming stalls at various popular holiday locations in England and by 1927 he had set up his first amusement park, a modest operation in Skegness containing a hoopla, a slide, a haunted house, and a scenic railway.

In 1928, William obtained an exclusive licence to sell dodgem cars in Europe and two years later he opened his first zoo expanding his entertainment offer at Skegness. By the 1930s, William had built an empire with amusement parks and zoos in Bognor Regis, Littlehampton, Mablethorpe, Hayling Island, Felixstowe, Southsea and on the Isle of Man. He continued to operate his winter fair at Olympia and added the winter fairs at Waverley Hall in Edinburgh and Kelvin Hall in Glasgow and in 1938 he gained the sole contract to supply amusements to the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow.

He opened his first Butlin's camp at Ingoldmells in 1936, which was followed by another one in Clacton-on-Sea built two years later.

During the Second World War, Butlin’s holiday camps were requisition by the War Office to be used as training camps and William agreed to build further sites for the same purpose in return for ownership of the sites after the war. He was also charged with improving morale in Britain’s munitions factories and was tasked with setting up leave centres where soldiers could relax and be entertained.

After the war he continued opening an array of holiday camps and hotels in the UK and other countries such as Ireland and Bahamas.

In 1944, William was awarded the MBE for his wartime service and in 1964 he received a Knighthood for his extensive services to charity.

William retired in 1969, handing over the business to his son Bobby, and died in 1980.

Found in 6 Collections and/or Records: