Where did we post-war baby boomers live during the early years of our lives? There was a big shortage of housing when the war ended in 1945 – and not just in Britain – due to bomb damage, population growth, lack of investment during the war and restrictions on materials and skilled labour. The answer was a massive house building programme during the 1950s, and the ‘pre-fab’ as a quick temporary solution.
A unique type of mobile home?
My father (David Lockwood Burnley), married in 1942 and produced his first child (me) in 1947, had a novel idea. He converted a heavy Crossley military vehicle into a mobile home. I found a photo of it recently. It was our home, on and off, for a number of years, in different locations as it could still be driven on the roads. This happened at night and might have been dubiously legal. It began as our home outside Lincoln, was stored somewhere when my father did a tour of Germany (he was in the RAF) and became our home again on a farm near Colerne in Wiltshire while we awaited married quarters. I suspect it was eventually abandoned there to agricultural use.
I can actually remember its interior. Behind the driver’s cab was a twin bedroom, where my younger sister and I slept. A few steps below it was a bathroom, complete with bath and toilet, though how the plumbing worked escapes me. Then came a sitting room with a ‘Put-u-Up’ for my parents, with a kitchen at the far end. Did he have expert help in its construction or was this done by somebody else and he simply bought it? I wish I knew but am delighted that at least the photo has survived to record its existence.
Margaret
2 Responses to Housing shortages – post WW2