The Rise and Fall of Britain’s Biggest Pram Collection - One devoted Englishman accumulated hundreds of historic baby carriages..
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Jack Hampshire could never say no to a pram.
Dozens of prams—otherwise known as buggies or baby carriages—hung in rows from custom-built racks on the walls of his barn. In his large 15th-century manor house, complete with a moat, you couldn’t walk without tripping over a Victorian push-chair or an Edwardian baby carriage. He had at least 10 prams in his bedroom alone, his favorite standing at the end of the bed. Antique dolls waved mutely from some of the prams, but most were empty, and all bore the hand-painted number he assigned them on their underside. Hampshire, who died in 1996, remains a legend in the “prammie” community. “I would think we would have been lost … without his interest,” says Christine Horne, a pram collector and organizer of the annual “Pramtasia” convention and parade. But in 1976, Hampshire was right: No matter how beautifully made, or how long they’d been in the family, or how important an object of social history they were, no one cared about prams. His mission to save as many prams as he could became a mission to save a history that was fast being lost to landfills and dumps.
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Hampshire became, in an astonishingly short period of time, the world’s leading (and quite possibly only) authority on coach-built prams. He even wrote a book. After the death of his wife Vicki in 1976, Hampshire’s collection ballooned to 350.
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In 1994, at age 80, Hampshire suffered a stroke that took his voice. By then he’d put the prams, numbering more than 450, into a charitable trust. Hampshire’s hope was that his collection would stay together, telling the story of the British coach-built pram and its intersection with everything from class divisions to women’s rights to international trade. After Hampshire died in 1996 and his children sold Bettenham Manor, control of the trust and the collection went to a couple from Norfolk, Angela and George Lynne, who collected vintage children’s clothes, toys, and equipment. Nick and his family didn’t keep a single pram, which he regrets.
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This is the story of how what happened to his collection: https://www.atlasobscura.com/article...ram-collection
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