Silver Knight Trailers/Caravans – Warwick Street, Leamington Spa.

Top-of-the-range caravans made in Leamington?

Clifford Rawnsley Dawtrey came with his father, Edward Rawnsley Dawtrey, from Northowram, in Yorkshire. In 1939, Clifford started building caravans under the name of Airlite Trailers of Coventry, in the old building of the Rover Cycle Company, Meteor Works in Queen Victoria Road, Coventry.

These were pretty much the forerunners of all caravans that are made today. Unfortunately, that business went into liquidation, but he starts up another as Coventry Steel Caravans, in Quinton Road, Coventry.

Clifford produced Trailers originally in Coventry until the premises were bombed in World War II. By December 1941, the business had moved to a field in Leek Wooton, near Kenilworth.

At one point, the building of caravans by Coventry Steel Caravans also took place in the Corn Exchange in Warwick.
It became Woolworths eventually and was then completely demolished for a new Woolworth building, which is now converted into “The Original Factory Shop” and “Costa Coffee”.

Seems as though he may not have owned the company outright or sold out. By 1950, he had left to start up another business in Leamington, but interestingly, the sale of the Corn Exchange premises shows that they had offices at Leamington Spa at that time.

He was building his own caravans again, under the name of Silver Knight Trailers, a Silver Knight 17 caravan was shown at the 1956 and 1957 Earls Court Motor Shows.

Sadly, by 1958, with the business struggling from poor sales, Clifford Dawtrey took his own life in October that year.
The British caravan industry had lost a very inquisitive mind and a top designer.