Landships II

Gwyn Evans · Legend

WW1 Tank 119 Old Bill

Mark Hansen · Legend

Gwyn Evans wrote:

Having been gently chastised could I redeem myself by suggesting the site www.picturesof coventry.co.uk. Search on "tank" and you should find several of Old Bill.

As a bonus, one of the photos (c03926) shows your grandfather at the controls. It will probably be a bit hard to confirm his identity from the online shot but an 8" x 10" print from Coventry council might make it easier.

P.S.: An even better shot of the driver is c03925!

-- Edited by Mark Hansen at 23:24, 2007-03-31

Lookingforoldbill · Corporal

Thanks very much some more to add to my collection.

Mike

Gwyn Evans · Legend

I believe that 119 Old Bill visited Derby in late Jan/early Feb 1918 for their Tank Week. I've just found that photographs of the Derby Tank Week are held by Derby Record Office, reference D3772/E51/6.

It'll mean a visit in person however - the photos aren't online. Details of opening hours etc will be available via the Derbyshire County Council website.

Lookingforoldbill · Corporal

Gwyn

thanks very much I will certainly follow this up.

Mike

Lookingforoldbill · Corporal

Thank you for the information which I am looking into. I have obviously been watching this thread and also watching a similar thread on The Great War Forum, which also talks about Tank Bank Weeks.

Centurion has made a very good input into the thread on The Great War Form where he talks about "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 am aware of the holes and errors in the Bovington records but the mention of "The Kings College archives" is news to me.

Centurion could you please send or post me a link into "The Kings College Archives" which may help me in tracing the movement of 119 Old Bill.

Thanks
Mike

Centurion · Legend

Unfortunately these archives are not digitised or online - old fashioned paper - nor are they open to the public. I have seen a reference to reports on the tank bank savings campaign being stored there but I don't have access.

Lookingforoldbill · Corporal

Thank you for replying

Mike

Gwyn Evans · Legend

Mike,

The Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives at King's College London is, as Centurion says, neither digitised nor on-line. But it does have a part digitised catalogue that is on-line. The Archive is split into the collections of various individuals, which seems to comprise most of the Archive. The remainder is based on various subjects. Some of the collections have detailed catalogues (for instance the Albert Stern papers), and these detailed catalogies give a good idea of what is contained in the papers. The Archive's catalogues are searchable on-line.

The address is: www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/info/index.shtml

This website will also tell you whether the papers are open or not. In the case of the Stern papers they are, subject to a reader signing an undertaking form. Now I must admit that I've never visited this Archive, though I would very much like to, so I don't know how easy it is to get to see the records, but I don't think it's impossible. John Glanfield used the Archive in his research for "Devil's Chariots".

Having said all that, I've searched on both "Tank Bank" and "Tank Week" and come up with zilch. However the Liddell Hart Centre deals with military archival materials - but the Tank Bank was organised by the National War Savings Committee, which wasn't part of the military. So perhaps the Liddell Hart Centre isn't an obvious place to look.

I would suggest that you try to identify key individuals in the organisation of the Tank Bank/Tank Weeks and see if you can find any papers they may have left. Once you have the names of individuals try looking at the Access to Archives site (www.a2a.org.uk). A2A is one of my favourite on-line resources. Rarely will it produce photos for you, but in my book anything that allows you to search all (OK, most of) the local archives in the England and Wales from your living room is worth having.

As for where you get these names from, you'll have to visit The National Archives in Kew, but file NSC7/38 contains alot of material on both Tank Weeks and presentation tanks.

Good Luck. Let us know what you find!

Gwyn

Centurion · Legend

From memory the material is under war bonds or war savings

Lookingforoldbill · Corporal

Gwyn and Centurion, thank you again for you invaluable knowledge. I will follow up everything you suggest without losing sight of what I am trying to research.

It is so easy to wander off track but a huge learning curve for me.

Thanks

Mike

Gwyn Evans · Legend

Just a thought, but I assume the archive Centurion was referring to at King's was the Liddell Hart Centre? Is there another archive there that's relevant to the subject of Tank Weeks and the Tank Bank?

Centurion · Legend

It was the LHC, this is the entry that looks interesting

WILSON, Louis Edward (1884-1973) Toured UK with the fund raising Tank Campaign of the National War Savings Committee, 1917-1919. Papers, 1917-1944, including correspondence, photographs and printed ephemera relating to the National War Savings Committee fund raising tour, 1917-1919. If any one can access please share if this is possible.

Gwyn Evans · Legend

This sounds very interesting indeed.

Centurion · Legend

It doesn't look as if Old Bill got to Scotland but if he did it would probably be recoreded here in the National Archives of Scotland ---"NAS ref. NSC: files and photographs relating to the War Savings and Tank campaigns of 1918 are preserved in the records of the National Savings Committee. "

Lookingforoldbill · Corporal

hello

Its been a while since I last came onto the forum. I am now living in France which makes my research a little more difficult. So my question again is has any one come across any further information/pictures on the movements of 119 Old Bill over the past year.

Mike