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Post Info TOPIC: Can anyone make sense of this number?
Centurion


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Can anyone make sense of this number?
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There is an index of war memorials in the NE that contains amongst many other things the original locations of the presentation tanks in that area (unfortuately it generally fails to give any details of the tanks themselves).One of the tanks was placed in somewhere called Southpark ( I have an awful vision of those horrible cartoon characters leaping up and down at the thought of laying hands on a tank - except of course Kenny who doubtess had been squashed under its trackssmile) I don't know exactly where this is but it might be Stockton. Now - the index does give a number for this tank - 28881! Too long for it to be its WD no (although loose a digit and it could be right) and too long for a home service number (although 288 would seem ok). One assumes that the number was displayed on the tank. Any ideas?

-- Edited by Centurion at 21:41, 2007-05-02

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Gwyn Evans


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Well, apart from the cartoon I've never heard of Southpark. But Southport, which is in the north east of England, did have a presentation tank although I know nothing of it. As your source is an index could it be a (very annoying) transcription error?

I don't think that home service number 288 is right because that was the number of the tank presented to Merthyr Tydfil. 2881 or 2888 would be possible. Either would make it a Mark IV Female, which sounds right for a presentation tank. 8881 doesn't exist as a number of any British Great War tank.

Does the index give any details of the other tanks in the NE?

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Gordon McLaughlin


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It may be worth mentioning that Southport is a seaside resort on the west coast, not in the North East!

Gordon McLaughlin

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Centurion


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Gwyn Evans wrote:

Well, apart from the cartoon I've never heard of Southpark. But Southport, which is in the north east of England, did have a presentation tank although I know nothing of it. As your source is an index could it be a (very annoying) transcription error?

I don't think that home service number 288 is right because that was the number of the tank presented to Merthyr Tydfil. 2881 or 2888 would be possible. Either would make it a Mark IV Female, which sounds right for a presentation tank. 8881 doesn't exist as a number of any British Great War tank.

Does the index give any details of the other tanks in the NE?


Only locations - eg outside Durham cathedral



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Centurion


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Gordon McLaughlin wrote:


It may be worth mentioning that Southport is a seaside resort on the west coast, not in the North East!

Gordon McLaughlin


Quite right, Napoleon the III stayed there (before he became emperor). Today somewhat in reduced circumstances but very fashionable in its time (Napoleon III 'nicked' some of its street designs for some of his alterations to Paris! Eeeh you wouldn't believe it!
Southport did have a tank week (or possibly a tank day) in May 1918 (but I have not identified which tank yet) so presumably it got a presentation tank post war.



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Mark Hansen


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Gwyn Evans wrote:

...As your source is an index could it be a (very annoying) transcription error?
...2881 or 2888 would be possible. Either would make it a Mark IV Female, which sounds right for a presentation tank. 8881 doesn't exist as a number of any British Great War tank.

I think if it's a transcription error, and I would say that it is very likely, the number would be more probably 2881, due to the likelihood of the '8' being hit thrice instead of twice rather than a stray '1'. Centurion, was the index a typed card or an online index?



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Centurion


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On line

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Mark Hansen


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A very good chance of it being a dittographical error. I'd put my money on it being 2881.

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Gwyn Evans


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Doh!

Another senior moment - I know Southport is on the west coast.

Lines for me: "I will not mix up west and east. I will not ..." (continues ad nauseum).

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Centurion


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Well if we knew which town in the North East had a place called Southpark then we'd probably know where 2881 ended up and, from the text in the index, that it had ben a training tank that had never seen action.

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Gordon McLaughlin


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The only Southpark that I can find in the North East is a street in Hexham, Northumberland.  I don't know how long the street has been there so can't comment on whether the tank could have been there.  From the map, it looks like a short, winding street near the town centre.

Not much help, I'm afraid.  A good bet might be a gazeteer which is most likely to be found in your local library.

Gordon McLaughlin

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Gwyn Evans


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From Centurion's last comment I agree that 2881 is more likely than 2888. I have 2888 as having seen service on the Western Front but no record (until now) of 2881.

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Gwyn Evans


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I've now found the source referred to (www.newmp.org.uk). My reading of it is that South Park is in Darlington.

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Centurion


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I've found a seperate history of Southpark - it is in Darlington and according to this history a presentation tank was installed there in 1918 being broken up in 1939. If these dates are correct it would be one of the earliest presentation tanks issued. All of this must in conjunction with the war memorial index throw into doubt the date on the photo of Egbert at Darlington refered to  (by me) in a different thread. Egbert was clearly not the presentation tank for Darlington and it would seem most odd for it to be there in early 1919. At the same time if 1919 was a slip for 1918 the date is still wrong as I now have enough details of Egbert's movements in Jan and Feb of that year to make it impossible for it to have been in Darlington that late in January 1918 although it was undoubtably in the town a week or two earlier.

-- Edited by Centurion at 11:49, 2007-05-05

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Gwyn Evans


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How confusing! The war memorials website says the tank was "set up" in South Park Darlington on 21 June 1919.


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