Derbyshire War Memorials
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Memorial Title

Derby - Tank Week (Lost)

Summary
Derbyshire War Memorials: a description of a WW1 tank used as a war memorial in Normanton Recreation Ground, Derby.
Images
No images are available.
Locations
Last known location:
Normanton Recreation Ground
Warwick Avenue (A5111)
New Normanton
Derby
Nearest postcode:
DE23 8DA

NGR:
SK 34406 34002
(From online digital mapping.)
(Map opens in new window.)
Location details:
The site is now known as Normanton Park. The tank was sited just inside the main entrance which at that time was on a track off Stenson Road, Warwick Ave not being constructed until later.
Type
Overall type: Tank.


Overall condition: Lost.


Description:

A WW1 Mk IV tank, number 136.

See the History and Comments section below for further details of the circumstances of the acquisition of the tank.

Glossary
Components:

Component Material Height Width Depth Condition
Tank Steel 2440 8050 4120 Lost
Dimensions in millimetres ±5mm unless stated otherwise.
Inscription
[None]
Conflicts and people named:
Conflict First World War (1914-1919) Totals
Action
Number died 0 0
Number served and returned 0 0
Total names 0 0
Administration
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.
History
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.
References
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.
Comments
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.

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Page © Roy Branson