Hyde-Barker Travel – The Beginnings
My father, Denzil Hyde-Barker, was the founder of the travel business that bore his name, and travelled to the States in 1951. I was only 12 years old at the time. He had returned from India at the end of the war in 1945 after serving as a Major in the British Indian Army, and just before the start of Indian Independence. After a short time in the Ministry of Transport in Nottingham he decided to set up his own business in Mansfield. I am often asked why he chose the heart of the Nottinghamshire Coal Fields. Let me tell you why.
My parents went to Thomas Cooks in Nottingham, the only travel agent in the county, to purchase tickets to visit my aunt in Ireland. In front of them in the queue was a young miner, still in his work-clothes, and covered in coal-dust. The clerk behind the desk deliberately ignored the miner and began to serve my parents, but my father insisted in a loud voice that the young man, who had been ahead of him, must be served first. Reluctantly the travel clerk complied, and my father stayed to make sure the boy was treated correctly.
It transpired that the young miner had received a telegram at the mine telling him that his mother was dying. He had come directly from the pit to buy a ticket to get him home to his family in Belfast. The ticket was duly issued and the young miner covered his grimy hand with his own clean handkerchief and shook my parents by the hand, with tears of gratitude in his eyes.
Moved by the shameful way this working man had been treated by a middle-class booking clerk, my father vowed, that very day, to open a travel office in Mansfield where working men could be given equal treatment with the middle- and upper-classes when they came to him for advice. His ethic of service was always maintained in our family business.
True to his pledge he opened his first travel shop in 1948, and immediately started travelling to get publicity for his business and because he loved travelling! By 1951 he was visiting the USA as he believed that Mansfield and the surrounding areas had a great deal to offer – Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Sherwood Forest, the Sherriff and the Castle of Nottingham, the Stately Homes of the Dukeries, Lord Byron and Newstead Abbey, the Pilgrim Fathers – and much more. North Nottinghamshire had a rich local history, and he wanted to bring American visitors to our area so that the locals might benefit from incoming Tourism.
His visit to North America was the start of visits to many Mansfields in North America, starting with Rotary Clubs of Mansfield Massachusetts and Mansfield Ohio, followed by those in Canada and subsequently the Mansfields of Australia.
He was also instrumental in founding the Annual “Miss Mansfield” Competition – where the First Prize was a trip to Mansfield Massachusetts! My parents escorted the first young prize-winner to America where she was hosted by a Rotary Family.
My father would have been thrilled to see so many people visiting Mansfield last Tuesday evening. He would have also been delighted to know that the excellent relationships and ties forged in the Fifties between the peoples of the Mansfields in the Old and New World are still as strong as ever.
Michael Hyde-Barker
Mansfield’s Twin Towns
Mansfield’s official relationships with its twinned towns or “sister cities” are recognised in the centre of our town with this dedicated finger sign that shows the directions and distances to each of Mansfield’s official twinned towns.
Each “finger” sign has been correctly pointed in the direction of each town using the latest GPS technology.
Camp Mansfield, Blomstrand Island, Ny-Ålesund, Kongsfjord, Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway
Old wooden trapper’s hut and wheelbarrow, Camp Mansfield, Blomstrandhalvoya,
A house or the oldest name of Camp Morton prospecting camp of the Northern Exploration Co., Ltd., London, on the northern side of Van Mienfjorden, Nordenskold.
It was named after Ernest Richard Mansfield, 1862-1924, mining engineer and explorer, who played a conspicuous part in the mining history of Spitsbergen. He visited Spitsbergen in 1905, 1906 and 1907, and wintered at Camp Bell 1908-09. In 1911 he was instrumental in forming The Northern Exploration Company, Ltd., London. He visited Spitsbergen repeatedly for this company and made extensive claims for it. In 1932 the properties of the company were purchased by the Norwegian government.
“Mansfield”, the song
“Mansfield” is track 4 on Elton John’s 2001 album Songs From The West Coast, written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin.