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29th September 1899
William Heygate Edmond Colborne Butlin born in Cape Town, South Africa.
His mother was a west country woman which accounted for his accent.
Mrs Butlin ran the business of importing and selling the new safety Bicycles.
Eventually she returned to Bristol selling gingerbread at summer fairs and Billy spent most of the time in a caravan with little schooling.
They then moved to Canada where his mother married again and he worked in Eaton's Department store in Toronto.
1914
Billy Butlin aged 15 went his first lakeside summer camp, which gave him the first real holidays he had known.
1914-18
He then joined the Canadian Army and served in France during the First World War.
1921
He returned to England, picked up with his family connections at Bedminster, Bristol. This was the off-season home of most of the travelling Showmen. Showman ran the fairs that travelled the Country during the Spring and Summer providing Fairgrounds in Villages and towns all over the Country.Skegness Traveling fair
On his first day using a portable Hoop-la stall he changed the style of the outfit by making a profit of £10. This he did by giving away prizes worth £10! The other stall holders followed tradition and hardly lost any prizes, but ended up making smaller profits of £5-6. Billy learned that you had to speculate and give things to the public in order to make a profit. He spent the rest of his life doing this and ended up as Millionaire and retiring to Jersey.
1927
Billy opened an Amusement Arcade at Skegness, Lincolnshire
1928
He then opened another Amusement Arcade at Mablethorpe.
1928
Billy Butlin bought the Dodgem car to England from the USA. It was now a traditional part of a travelling fair, one exists still on Clacton-on-Sera Pier.
1929
He opened a large amusement park on the south side of the pier at Skegness. The Bottons family have been providing all the fun and thrills of the traditional fairground since taking over the site from Billy Butlin in 1965.
1933
Billy Butlin now had 900 men in permanent employment and 2,000 seasonal workers. He had his own specialist workshops for the building and maintaining the rides. He had made £500,000 in capital with an annual profit of £20,000-£25,000. He also helped to raise £20,000 a year for charities by having special weekend carnivals.Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9
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