tanks3 Posted 9 April , 2007 Share Posted 9 April , 2007 Hello everyone, I was interested in the replies given in a recent thread about the tanks used by the National War Savings Committee during 1917-18. It inspired me to contact Bovington and obtain a copy of their notes on where and when the 6 National War Savings Commitee tanks toured England. I was surprised to find their info for England and Wales is a little thin. The 6 tanks (130 Nelson; 113 Julian; 119 Old Bill; 141 Egbert; 138 Iron Ration and 137 Drake) toured from late 1917 to late 1918. I thought it would be great to get a database prepared showing the movement of these tanks, when they were on display, in what towns and how much they raised. Do any of you experts out there have this kind of info you can share with me? I suspect many of you will know this about your local town and it would be great to pull it all together. All info therefore gratefully received. Thanks Tanks3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deano Posted 9 April , 2007 Share Posted 9 April , 2007 hi tanks3 what a coincidence! yesterday i downloaded an image from picturesheffield showing a tank in fitzallen square in sheffield with a big white painted 130 on the side! so i suppose this is Nelson? the occasion is something about war bonds. what a small world eh? Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 9 April , 2007 Share Posted 9 April , 2007 Tanks 3: I've a postcard of 211 (not mentioned in your post) in Salisbury, March 4-9, 1918. The tank was displayed in the Market Place in an effort to raise £52,500, a target of £2:10:0 for each of the city's 21,000 people and enough to purchase 21 aeroplanes. In fact £165,204 was raised. The tank was then taken by rail "to a southern port"' the inference that I took being that it was going on active service. A few months ago I sold on eBay a postcard of Egbert in Portsmouth, being inspected by civic dignitaries. I did a little research before listing it, but the info is now in cyberspace, I fear. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanks3 Posted 9 April , 2007 Author Share Posted 9 April , 2007 Hi Guys, This is just the sort of stuff i am looking for. Thanks very much. Dean1 - I am sure this will be Nelson. Any dates when it was in Fitzallen Square? The National War Savings Committee used the tanks for special "Tank Weeks" when war bonds were sold for the war effort. Moonraker - not sure about tank 211 - will have to do a bit more digging unless anyone out there knows the answer!! Thanks again Tanks3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deano Posted 9 April , 2007 Share Posted 9 April , 2007 hi tank3 off to Sheffield local studies tommorow. so i will see what i can find out for you. cheers dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanks3 Posted 9 April , 2007 Author Share Posted 9 April , 2007 Hi Guys, Dean thanks. Look forward to hearing. Moonraker - had a further thought. Egbert was the only tank used by the War Savings Committee that saw actual service. I believe this was before it took part in the "tank Week" tours. It did however go to Halifax in Canada for similar reasons. Could be it sailed from Portsmouth for this although more likely Liverpool. Just a thought anyway. It finished up as thw presentation tank to West Hartlepool. Tanks3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deano Posted 10 April , 2007 Share Posted 10 April , 2007 hi tanks 3 been to local studies in sheffield and they have nothing! sorry. tried looking through sheffield telegrapgh for late 1917 - late 1918 but the machine played up!! Sorry will try again for you in the future Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 10 April , 2007 Share Posted 10 April , 2007 From The Times January 7, 1918: Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 10 April , 2007 Share Posted 10 April , 2007 From The Times January 22, 1918: From The Times January 28, 1918: Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 10 April , 2007 Share Posted 10 April , 2007 From The Times March 1, 1918: The above four articles appeared from a search in "The Times" for "National War Savings Commitee"; having laboriously posted them, I then thought to search for "tank week" during 1917-18 and got 48 hits (including the earlier four). Happy hunting, Tanks3! And if you can't normally access the archive via your local library membership, it's your lucky month: see http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/i...=50331&st=0 One post of this thread says the free offer is available all this month. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanks3 Posted 10 April , 2007 Author Share Posted 10 April , 2007 Hi Moonraker and Dean, This is fantastic stuff. Thanks very much. I do not have access to the Times Archive which you mention. The free "Week Access" was for 2006 not 2007. I will have to see if Lincolnshire library membership will suffice. Thanks again. Dean. Thanks for your efforts. Better luck next time. Tanks3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelbeer Posted 10 April , 2007 Share Posted 10 April , 2007 I have previously posted my interest in Tank Bank weeks especially the movements of 119 Old Bill, as my grandfather was one of the crew transporting this particular tank around the country. If any one has any further information regarding 119 Old Bill I would be very interested. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted 10 April , 2007 Share Posted 10 April , 2007 Hi Moonraker and Dean, This is fantastic stuff. Thanks very much. I do not have access to the Times Archive which you mention. The free "Week Access" was for 2006 not 2007. I will have to see if Lincolnshire library membership will suffice. Thanks again. Tanks3 Ooops. Sorry. I see that several other Pals also misled themselves when the 2006 thread was revived recently and some posters then enthused about the access they were enjoying to the archives via their local library. Moonraker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanks3 Posted 17 April , 2007 Author Share Posted 17 April , 2007 Hello all the experts, Thought I would bring this thread back to the top. After a flying start from Moonraker, all seems to have gone quiet. I am sure there are many of you out there who knos which of the presentation tanks visited your local town, when this was and how much the tank week raised. All snippets of info welcomed!! Regards Tanks3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MartinWills Posted 17 April , 2007 Share Posted 17 April , 2007 Interestingly I was reading about Julian a couple of days ago. 113 Julian arrived in Blackpool on 17 February 1918 (following appearances in London, Manchester, Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow. Julian arrived by train and proceeded from the station (Blackpool North probably) along Talbot Roand to Talbot Square, apparently making a terrible mess of the road. As part of Tank Week it was decided to launch an offensive on the "wealthier" residents of Lytham St Annes, so the Tramways Department built a lightweight electric tank (Albert; No. 88) which on 20th April proceeded via Squires Gate (where it appears to have picked up a military band from the Military Hospital there) and advanced as far as Bannister Street before making a tactical withdrawl to Clifton Square in Lytham where it rested for the day selling tickets for the Electricity and Tramways Department Prize Draw, presumably in aid of "Tank Week". The trip to Lytham was the longest that "88 - Albert" made and Albert was almost certainly partly scrapped in the wake of "Tank Week". I wonder if Bovington hold any information on "Albert"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanks3 Posted 18 April , 2007 Author Share Posted 18 April , 2007 Hello Martin, Thanks for the info. Interested to read about "88-Albert". I assume this was in all respects a tram that travelled along the tramway and was mearly constructed to look like a WW1 tank. Are there any pictures of it in the local rag? Thanks again Tanks3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 Hello all the experts, Thought I would bring this thread back to the top. After a flying start from Moonraker, all seems to have gone quiet. I am sure there are many of you out there who knos which of the presentation tanks visited your local town, when this was and how much the tank week raised. All snippets of info welcomed!! Regards Tanks3 Take a look at the Landships Forum - lots and lots of info there 1. You need to differentiate between a tank week tank and a presentation tank. The first were all males with numbers in the 1xx range (eg. 130 Nelson). There were probably 8 such tanks (just possibly more) of which 6 appear to have been the principal ones. The first round of tank weeks was on 11/12/1917 the last known tour was 113 Julian in the North of Scotaland in Oct 1918 (113 Julian had also been in Scotland in January/ Feb). These tanks were used for fund raising selling War bonds. Egbert a male tank DID NOT go to America and I have details of many of its visits around the UK - it just didn't have time!. At least two Mk IV Female tanks were used to tour Canada and the USA staring in late 1917. These were usually named as Britannia (both of them!) but there is indeed photographic evidence to show that there were at least two tanks bearing this name at the same time). They toured all over the USA. I've posted some details of this tour with photos on Landships forum and hope to update it soon. I've been assembling a database of tank weeks and have details of about fifty of these so far. As I think ther were probably over 200 up and down Great Britain I've still got a way to go ! 2. Presentation tanks were mostly Mk IV female with numbers in the 2xx range (there were a few males in the 1xx range, a small number of Mk III females and a couple of Mk IV supply tanks. These were presented to town in the period 1919 -1920 for their work in hosting tank weeks and raising funds. Many local accounts are hopelessly mixed up between the two - for example there are at least five towns who claim to have been presented with Julian - where photos are found they turn out to have been 2xx series females! What seems to happen is that the tank bank visit and the later presentation become mixed in people's memories and blended. Whatever 211 was for example it wasn't a tank bank tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tanks3 Posted 23 April , 2007 Author Share Posted 23 April , 2007 Hello Centurian, Welcome to the forum - nice to have another ww1 tankie on board. My interest in both tank week and presentation tanks has grown from the collection of postcards i have assembled. Ithought it would be good to start a database of the movement of the tank wek tanks over the 1917-1918 period. I realise these were seperate from the 2XX series of presentation tanks and I am trying to get a postcard of each of the 260 plus presented tanks. I started my tank week database by getting the info that is avalable from the Tank Museum but this is a little thin and I have added further info from my postcards. Still along way to go. I would like to see what there is on the Landships forum. This is a forum I am not familiar with - can you point me in the right direct and let me have a link? In my crd collection I have one showing Egbert at Halifax Mar 18-23 1918 but was lead to believe this to be Halifax Canada. I knew of the Britannia tanks. Any further info or help you can give would be most welcomed Tanks3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 23 April , 2007 Share Posted 23 April , 2007 Hello Centurian, Welcome to the forum - nice to have another ww1 tankie on board. My interest in both tank week and presentation tanks has grown from the collection of postcards i have assembled. Ithought it would be good to start a database of the movement of the tank wek tanks over the 1917-1918 period. I realise these were seperate from the 2XX series of presentation tanks and I am trying to get a postcard of each of the 260 plus presented tanks. I started my tank week database by getting the info that is avalable from the Tank Museum but this is a little thin and I have added further info from my postcards. Still along way to go. I would like to see what there is on the Landships forum. This is a forum I am not familiar with - can you point me in the right direct and let me have a link? In my crd collection I have one showing Egbert at Halifax Mar 18-23 1918 but was lead to believe this to be Halifax Canada. I knew of the Britannia tanks. Any further info or help you can give would be most welcomed Tanks3 Here is the link http://www.landships.freeservers.com/. There is lots of good stuff in the main part and then go look in the forum. I'm afraid its Halifax Yorkshire. I'd be interested in seeing a photo of Egbert at that date if there's any way of seeing a copy. I'm trying to validate/date some photos I've found and this might help (the tanks markings evolved over time) Be careful of the Bovingdon material it has holes and some errors. Bovingdon didn't organise the tank tours and don't have the original material - I think this is in the Kings college archives. I've tried as far as possible to locate supporting evidence for all items in my data base (diary entries, local records of the time, contemporary newspaper reports etc etc). Some of the Bovingdon dates can be as much as 2 months out (unless the old papers were running a deception exercise!). There are visits missing etc etc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 7 May , 2007 Share Posted 7 May , 2007 Tanks 3 and I have been pooling information and I've also had some new stuff from other sources. I'm beginning to build up a picture of the tank weeks and I thought some of you might be interested in a map of Julian's tank weeks. Its not complete and I have not put in those places I've seen reported on various forums etc but not yet found any supporting independent evidence (so Manchester not yet added for example though I'm pretty sure I know when that was). I'm being very cautious. However a pattern starts to emerge. I have put in one 'doubtful' as I've found a near contempory account of Julian being in Abertillery in 1917 but his other visits to that area are in 1918. However a touring tank was in Cardiff in 1917 and I'm finding some evidence that the touring tanks made day trips by rail from their main tank week town. So its just feasible. One example of a day trip is Camarthen during Julian's Tank Week at Llanelli. I had wondered if this were a dummy as at Tonypandy but the poster for the visit mentions a demonstration and you don't do that with a dummy. You'll notice that some dates are more precise than others. I have not used the Bovingdon list as it is just that and contains no additional info to back up any of the dates given. As I have already found some errors I'm treating this with some caution. Julian seems to have had a Celtic bias especially with two Scottish tours. The Tank Museum Newsletter has given Duns as his final resting place but I hae me doots as the map suggests he passed through here rather than ending up there. If any one has any info please contribute. If there is some way we can buld aaccesible by all database I'll willing put everything I've got in it (at the moment I'm burning a disc for Tank3 buts its a cumbersome way to go about things. I intend to post a map for Egbert next. I do have material on Nelson and Old Bill (I'm waiting for some Nelson info a local authority archive has promised me) but material on Drake and Hard Rations is very difficult to come by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 7 May , 2007 Share Posted 7 May , 2007 Postcard of a tank in Bolton - see http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SUPERB-1918-TANK-PHO...1QQcmdZViewItem Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 8 May , 2007 Share Posted 8 May , 2007 Given that thats a female tank its probably not a tank week tank but rather a presentation tank 1919 or 1920 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MACRAE Posted 8 May , 2007 Share Posted 8 May , 2007 Okay i know its not WW1 but what you think of this as a anti tank weapon brings a new meaning to shoot and scoot would not like to be sitting on that when it goes of 1 reverse gear only operates when fired ouch how do they fire it. Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
centurion Posted 8 May , 2007 Share Posted 8 May , 2007 If it were not wildly off topic I could wax long and eloquent about some even more bizzare AT stuff much of which put the user at greater risk than the tank (Iwrote a book last year on "Weapons of Self Destruction" but failed to find a publisher). I used to wonder how that French recoiless rifle on a scooter was aimed (did U let the rear tyre down for elevation?). The full version carried spare recoiless rounds in the pannier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delta Posted 8 May , 2007 Share Posted 8 May , 2007 Given that thats a female tank its probably not a tank week tank but rather a presentation tank 1919 or 1920 I'll bow to your greater knowledge but the seller says it is 1918; would that make a difference? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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