The Camping and Caravanning Club: A Brief History

The Camping and Caravanning Club is the largest and oldest club in the world for people who enjoy all types of camping. With more than 700,000 members, it aims to help everyone enjoy the simple pleasures that only camping can provide.

© Public Domain

With its headquarters based in Coventry, the club is a not-for-profit organisation that invests its income back into improving services and facilities for members. It supports people who enjoy tent, motorhome and caravan camping, whether they’re first-time or seasoned campers.

Camping and Caravanning Club history

The Club was founded in August 1901, by Thomas Hiram Holding – aka the “father of modern camping”. Born in 1844 as one of eight siblings in Prees, Shropshire, he developed a love of camping after his family emigrated to the United States when he was nine years old.

Holding developed a love of the great outdoors and learned new skills while travelling on the wagon train on the way to Salt Lake City. The 1,200-mile journey by horse-drawn wagon was harsh. Sadly, two of his sibling’s passed away en route. Holding fell under a wagon and was seriously injured.

The family decided to return to Britain after their bereavement. Despite the tragic end to their new life in the US, Holding was hooked on camping.

As an adult, he trained to become a tailor, but spent many a holiday camping in various locations across the UK. He married his wife, Sarah, in 1869 and they had four sons and one daughter.

Holding organised camping holidays to the countryside, enjoying sailing, canoeing and cycling while there; he loved the Scottish Highlands, despite finding the camping equipment of the time to be very cumbersome.

In the 1890s, during a camping holiday in Ireland, he invented a simple ridge tent, made from a sheet of canvas, that was easier to carry and erect. He wrote a book describing his travels, called Cycle and Camp in Connemara, in 1897. It grabbed the public’s attention and people began contacting him to find out more about the joys of camping and cycling.

He decided to launch the Camping and Caravanning Club (originally known as the Association of Cycle Campers) to share his knowledge with other people. He wrote The Camper’s Handbook in 1908, with further tips and advice for would-be campers. Using his skills as a tailor to determine how best to sew and manufacture them, he continued to design lightweight new tents.

The camping movement continued to grow after World War I ended in 1918. The government endorsed camping as a means of developing citizens’ physical, moral and spiritual prowess, urging them to leave their urban homes and holiday in the countryside.

Famous club presidents

Lord Robert Baden-Powell became president of the club in 1919, after serving as a soldier during the Second Boer War. His link with the Camping and Caravanning Club was inevitable. Baden-Powell had written a book, Scouting for boys, in 1908. It became the fourth best-selling book of the 20th century.

The Camping and Caravanning Club went from strength to strength and from an initial six members, it has grown to its current membership of 700,000.

The naval officer Robert Falcon Scott (Scott of the Antarctic) was president in 1909. A year later, he set off on the ill-fated Terra Nova expedition, which sadly led to his death in 1912, at the age of 43. Legend has it, he took a club flag on the fateful journey, with the hope of erecting it when he reached his destination. Tragically, severe weather conditions meant the adventurers never returned to base. Rescuers found their bodies buried in the snow.

The current club president is Julia Bradbury, the television presenter and outdoor enthusiast, who accepted the role in 2013.

How many Camping and Caravanning Club sites are there?

Across the UK, there are more than 100 club sites, set in picturesque locations near leading tourist destinations. Some of the sites are in forest and woodland settings, so you can enjoy a wilder feel to the camping experience. The club pledges to have friendly campsite managers and the best camping facilities.

It is easy to become a member – simply visit the club website and register online. Benefits for members include events such as rallies where you can meet fellow campers, courses, special offers, newsletters and advice about new products; oh, and it’s a whole lot of fun that you can enjoy with a like-minded community!

The club’s ethos is that camping and caravanning provide an important chance for people to get close to nature, letting them escape from the stress of everyday life and rediscover who they really are.