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Memorial Title Derby - Tank Week (Lost) |
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Summary
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Derbyshire War Memorials: a description of a WW1 tank used as a war memorial in Normanton Recreation Ground, Derby. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Images
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Locations
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Type
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Inscription
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Administration
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Custodian: Formerly Derby County Borough Council (Derby Corporation). Local authorities: From WW1: Derby County Borough Council (Derby Corporation). From 1974: Derby District (later Borough and from 1977 City) Council and Derbyshire County Council. From 1997: The unitary authority has been Derby City Council. |
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History
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28th January, 1918: Tank 119 "Old Bill" arrived in Derby Market Place to begin Tank Week to raise funds for the National War Savings Committee. During the seven days £1,284,514 18s 6d was donated by local businesses, organisations and individuals for tank production. This was enough to pay for 257 Tanks. 1918-19: Following the conclusion of hostilities the government decided to present surplus tanks to towns which had funded them as a memorial to the contributions made by the civilian population. 16th May, 1919: Derby's presentation tank had arrived by rail at St Mary's Station and was ready for the presentation. 23rd May, 1919: : The tank processed through Derby town centre in a huge parade including the band of the 1st Battalion, Sherwood Foresters; the band of the Volunteer Battalion; a hundred men from the Sherwood Foresters; the Municipal Secondary School Cadet Corps and representives of the Discharged Sailors' and Soldiers' Federation; the Comrades of the Great War and the Boy Scouts. Three motor cars carried Ald W B Rowbotham (Mayor), Lt Gen Sir John Maxwell (commander in chief of the Northern Command), Lord Roe and other dignitaries and officials. At Normanton Recreation Ground a huge crowd watched Lt Gen Sir John Maxwell formally hand over the tank to the Mayor. c1940: The tank is believed to have been cut up for scrap to help with the WW2 war effort. |
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References
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Derbyshire Advertiser and Journal: 16th May 1919 p7; 17th May 1919 pp2 & 9; 25th May 1919 p5; 30th May 1919 p11 and 31st May 1919p11: notices and descriptions of the preparation for, and performance of the ceremony. Derby Daily Telegraph: 17th May 1919 p1; 22nd May 1919 p3; 24th May 1919 p3: notices and descriptions of the preparation for, and performance of the ceremony Derbyshire Life and Countryside, 9th November 2015: Derby Tank Week - an account of the organisation and implementation of Tank Week at Derby. Derby Telegraph: 10th August 2016: a readers comment on the tank and its disposal, together with a photograph of it in the recreation ground. |
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Comments
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Contemporary press reports, and the speeches reported at the presentation ceremony, make it clear that the tank was a memorial to the civilian contribution to the war effort. Tank 136 is described in some reports as being a female but the tank in the Derby Telegraph photograph appears to have a canon protruding from the sponson, which would make it a male. Can you add to or correct anything on this page? Let us know. |
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Page © Roy Branson |