We’ve been L. Hunt & Sons for a very long time;

since before the first UK Driving Test took place, before World War 2 – even before the first Times Crossword. But going back even further (before sliced bread!), our company started out as WJ Hunt Haulage, Coke and Coal Merchant.

Walter James Hunt was born in 1873 and lived in the rural village of Herriard. As a young man he started out transporting heifers from the farms to the local market town of Basingstoke. From this simple beginning Walter built his business by moving hay, coke and coal, and gravel and stone for building the roads.  Certainly he was a busy man; along with this business he owned several properties and other businesses including the local public house, The New Inn (now the Fur & Feathers), and he and his wife Louisa raised seven sons. The business diversified over time, growing from the horse and cart operation onto solid tyre AECs. 

Sadly, no-one can tell us too much about the man himself as he passed away in 1938, but much more is remembered about his vibrant wife, Louisa.

It’s a Woman’s World

Louisa was 60 when Walter died and her sons were grown men, but she became head of the family. A glamorous and forceful woman, she took over running her husband’s businesses and even renamed the haulage firm after herself! She moved the business from Herriard to our current premises in Upton Grey, onto a plot of land the family had owned for some years.

Setting up home here, Louisa oversaw the running of her businesses with her sons. Many followed their own paths, but Harry took interest in the haulage company. His eldest son Gordon remembers Louisa as someone who could be very fierce but was always kind to her sons. He particularly enjoyed her collecting him and his brother Ivan from school on her three wheeled trike! Gordon worked for his grandmother before leaving school. Returning home after his lessons he would head to Basingstoke station with a flatbed trailer to load bags of coke and coal for return to the yard. These would be delivered to local homes and businesses, and even Gordon’s own school – Robert Mays in Odiham.

3’s trouble

As he grew up, Gordon worked as a driver’s mate with his father Harry and was even driving for two solid days right up to his own wedding! He and his younger brother Ivan remember this time fondly. Louisa passed away in 1965, passing the business to Harry and his three sons. As the years passed, they moved onto articulated lorries to move animal feeds as well as livestock, and by the 1980s were taking on regular international work as far afield as Portugal, France, Italy and Spain. 

Before mobile phones were commonplace the drivers were reliant on maps and their CB radios – they had to be driver, route planner, navigator and even mechanic all in one! They often worked 7 days a week, sometimes nights too – hard work but very rewarding.

That’s not to say it was without entertainment – Ivan recalls 2 pig lorries coming together in the lanes, resulting in weeks of evenings spent rounding up the escapees on Greenham Common!

Lucky 13!

The youngest brother Derrick also joined the business in the 80s, bringing his wife Sandra into the office too. The company moved from being run from the dining room table into a new office building on site. This was better all round as the family didn’t have to be hushed every time the phone rang!

In the 1990s the company really expanded, going from 3 to 13 lorries within 2 years. A contract with Basingstoke based air conditioning company Trane – a company we still work with today – saw us move away from agriculture and livestock into more equipment and machinery moves.

4th generation

Another twenty years brings us to the present day, where we have the fourth generation in a successful family business.  Trading continues with Derrick’s son and daughter; Matt has been working for the company since he was 17, beginning as a vehicle technician then becoming a driver and is now our Transport Manager. Sarah is the most recent addition, coming into the office in 2006.  Both have held their management Certificates of Professional Competence since 2009, the training which enables them to hold the Operator’s Licence.

Second Century

Gordon and Ivan have retired in the last 10 years (although they continue to stay actively interested in the company - even driving on occasion!), and the history of the company continues to expand as the next generation continues to learn from the ones before, moving confidently and competently into the company’s second century of active trading.