Sir Frederick William Pontin (24 October 1906 – 30 September 2000) was the founder of

Pontins Pontins is a British company operating holiday parks in the UK, founded in 1946 by Fred Pontin. Since 2011, it has been owned by Britannia Hotels. Pontins specialises in offering half-board and self-catering holidays featuring entertainment ...

holiday camps and one of the two main entrepreneurs in the British holiday camp business in the 30 years after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, alongside Billy Butlin. He was born in

Highams Park Highams Park is a suburban district in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, England, near Epping Forest and 8.1 miles (13 km) north-east of Charing Cross. Traditionally a part of Walthamstow parish and municipal borough, it is primarily a ...

, the son of Frederick William Pontin, an East End cabinet maker, and Elizabeth Marian Tilyard, and attended Sir George Monoux Grammar School in Walthamstow but left without passing any examinations. He had a successful career in the city's Stock Exchange before

. During the war, he was involved in helping to establish hostels for construction workers. Based on this experience, he decided to move into the holiday camp business after the war. In 1946, he formed a syndicate to buy an old disused camp at Brean Sands near

Burnham-on-Sea Burnham-on-Sea is a seaside town in Somerset, England, at the mouth of the River Parrett, upon Bridgwater Bay. Burnham was a small fishing village until the late 18th century when it began to grow because of its popularity as a seaside resort. ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

which was the beginnings of the company known as Pontins. He gradually expanded his business encompass thirty sites including the popular

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

and

Prestatyn Prestatyn is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Historically a part of Flintshire, it is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. Prestatyn has a population of 19,085, History Prehistory There is evidence that ...

resorts. In 1960, he bought

Farringford House Farringford House, in the village of Freshwater Bay, Isle of Wight, was the home of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from 1853 until his death in 1892. The main house dates from 1806 with gothic embellishments and extensions added from the 1830s. ...

on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

, the former home of Alfred, Lord Tennyson which had been turned into a hotel. Pontin kept racehorses in stables near the hotel, one of which,

Specify Specify (foaled 1962) was a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in National Hunt racing and is noted for winning the 1971 Grand National. Background Specify was a bay gelding bred in Norwich, England by Alan Parker. He was initia ...

, won the 1971 Grand National. He expanded his holiday business into other parts of Europe, forming Pontinental in 1963 with holiday villages in Spain, Majorca, Sardinia, Ibiza, Greece, Morocco and Yugoslavia. In 1978, Pontins and Pontinental were sold to

Coral Corals are marine invertebrates within the class Anthozoa of the phylum Cnidaria. They typically form compact colonies of many identical individual polyps. Coral species include the important reef builders that inhabit tropical oceans and ...

for £56 million and he remained a director for two years, and continued to run hotels, including Farringford. In 1984, he acquired

London Dungeon The London Dungeon is a tourist attraction along London's South Bank, England, which recreates various gory and macabre historical events in a gallows humour style. It uses a mixture of live actors, special effects and rides. History The L ...

and opened

York Dungeon York Dungeon is a tourist attraction in York, England. York Dungeon depicts history of the dungeon using actor led shows, special effects and displays of models and objects. The York Dungeons reopened in March 2013 after a period of closure du ...

in 1986. He became Chief Barker of the

Variety Club Variety, the Children's Charity is a charitable organization founded in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1927. History On October 10, 1927, a group of eleven men involved in show business set up a social club which they named the "Variety Club". On ...

of Great Britain in 1968 and was president for 16 years, raising over £1 million. In the 1976 Queen's Birthday Honours List, he was knighted for his services to charity. He married Dorothy, with whom he had a daughter, and subsequently married Joyce Hey in 1999 the year before he died in Blackpool aged 93.

References

1906 births 2000 deaths People from Walthamstow 20th-century English businesspeople Knights Bachelor {{England-business-bio-stub