Miss Hardy and ‘The Main Gay’ Caravan

Amongst the often progressive and independent women who featured in early Club membership numbers, there were a number of individuals who were also active in the campaign for the vote; one of them was Miss Susan ‘Susie’ Hardy of Harncroft, Old Blandford Road, Salisbury. Her name featured in the Club’s 1913 List of Members, but was also listed as the Secretary of the Salisbury branch of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS), taking up the post in 1909. NUWSS was an organisation headed by Millicent Garrett Fawcett who, in contrast to the militant Suffragettes, supported more peaceful methods of campaigning for the vote including lobbying and creating printed propaganda.

While researching Miss Hardy and two of her equally remarkable sisters Lavinia and Lileen, Dr Elizabeth Darling, Reader in Architectural History at Oxford Brookes University, got in contact with the Collection. Dr Darling was able to contact Miss Hardy’s family, her great-nephew Peter Hardy and great-great-niece Penny Spencer, setting about a chain of events which has enabled the Club to learn more about the remarkable story of her life, and also to piece together some parts of our own Collection that are linked to her. From the wealth of information provided by her family the story of an incredible woman has re-emerged.

At only 15 years old in 1881, against a backdrop of a male dominated society, Miss Susan Hardy set on a path to become a successful businesswoman. She entered the business of her father, a Wholesale Grocer, Chemist and Mineral Water Manufacturer in Salisbury, later rising to become joint manager and then a managing director when it became a limited company, until her retirement in 1931. As a female pioneer in the business world, and a prominent personality in the commerce of Salisbury, the absence of the right to vote must have understandably been felt as a great injustice for Miss Hardy, like so many of her contemporaries. For a number of years, she was involved with the Salisbury NUWSS, while her obituary of 1953 sketches her many other interests and achievements. During the First World War she was responsible for opening a canteen and recreation room for soldiers of the Southern Command, and after the conflict spent a decade as the Honorary Secretary of the Salisbury branch of the League of Nations Union. She was also a founder of the Salisbury Poetry Circle and along with her sisters was a great champion of education for women, which included the support and encouragement of her own great-niece. What her obituary omits however, is that the way in which she spent her leisure time placed her firmly amongst the pioneers of the caravan holiday.

Miss Hardy was part of a group of women who made up a third of the total membership number of the fledgling Caravan Club in 1913. Formed in 1907, in a time when women were often prohibited to join male dominated organisations, the Club was a progressive and welcoming place for female members who found opportunities to join the committee and chair meetings in favour of male counterparts. Miss Hardy’s great-nephew shared a charming picture which featured his father and uncle by a ´van as children, offering a glimpse of the horse-drawn caravan that Miss Hardy once owned, named ‘The Main Gay’. The caravan was towed by a horse named Rufus, who was kept at Godshill near Fordingbridge over the summer months.

From information provided to the Club from Miss Hardy’s family, ‘The Main Gay’ was not only a much loved mode of holiday for Susan herself, but it also gave equal enjoyment to her family. Her brother George is known to have enjoyed tours in the caravan, adding a brake mechanism prior to a holiday on the Isle of Wight, a modification which can be clearly seen in the picture of the caravan from the New Forest Meet in 1914. His son Leslie enjoyed a trip in 1920 to Woodgreen in the New Forest, with a group of friends known as ‘The Bachelors’. Here, Miss Hardy along with two of her sisters Lavinia and Effie paid a visit to the group where a wonderful photograph was taken with the three ladies outside the caravan. In later years, ‘The Main Gay’ was retired to Miss Hardy’s garden in Bouverie Avenue, Salisbury, where it was used as a summerhouse and also doubled as a makeshift stage which inspired the imaginations and performances of her great-niece Jennifer and her brother, Richard.

The story of Miss Susan Hardy’s life has been retold with sincere thanks to her great-nephew Peter Hardy, great-great-niece Penny Spencer and Dr Elizabeth Darling who have provided a wealth of information and photographs.

Further Reading:

Learn more about Susan Hardy’s sister Lileen, pioneer of early years education and founder of a kindergarten for the children of Edinburgh’s Canongate slums, in a blog by Dr Elizabeth Darling.