TWO medals awarded to an inventor at the heart of creating the first tanks are now on display.
The Tank Museum has been presented with the medals that belonged to Walter Gordon Wilson whose creative mind led to the tracks of the first tanks.
The medals were stolen many years ago, but Wilson’s grandson, Brigadier Henry Wilson, took possession of them and made the donation to the Bovington museum.
They are now on display along with the very early tanks that Wilson was responsible for helping design.
READ: Bovington Tank Museum named best attraction in England
Brigadier Wilson said: “My grandfather’s medals had been missing since stolen in 1954 so it was fortunate that I heard they were being put up for sale.
“Thanks to the vendor’s cooperation the medals were returned to the family.
“Due to Walter’s pioneering role in the invention of the tank, I felt that the Tank Museum was the appropriate home for them so we decided to donate them.”
When Winston Churchill, as First Lord of the Admiralty during the First World War pushed for ‘landships’ to be created, Wilson was put in charge of testing.
He is credited with inventing numerous key features, notably the track design for the test vehicle Little Willie.
READ: Bovington Tank Museum helps create tank tracks for Ukraine
He also invented Little Willie’s rhomboid successor ‘Mother’ with the tracks running around the whole vehicle.
Later he improved the gear system in the Mark V tanks so a single operator could drive them, rather than a team of four as with earlier designs.
Brigadier Wilson added: “Always an innovative thinker, he became involved with early powered flight before building his own motor cars, the Wilson-Pilcher, from 1901 to 1904. He then worked on designing commercial vehicles for Armstrong-Whitworth before his leading wartime role in the tank story.”
Tanks would enter the fray in the First World War on September 15, 1916, and would become a vital weapon in the allies’ victory.
Reflecting their leading role, Walter Wilson and his partner Sir William Tritton jointly received the largest financial award from the post-Great War Royal Commission for Inventors for their work on the tank.
The donated medals are the War Medal – awarded to all those who served in The First World War, and the Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (CMG).
David Willey, curator of the museum, said: “These medals might be modest in one sense, but they are of great significance and importance to us because of whose they were.
“Without Wilson’s drive, creative mind and problem-solving skills the story of what became known as the tank might have been very different.
“It is extremely generous of the family to donate the medals which will help us tell the story of how the ‘landships’ were turned from an idea into reality.”
READ: Tank Museum to offer discount tickets to low income families
Wilson was born in Ireland in 1874 and after a brief spell in the Royal Navy, studied mechanical science at King’s College, Cambridge.
There he met Charles Rolls – of Rolls-Royce fame – and acted as his mechanical engineer on several occasions.
He teamed up with Percy Sinclair Pilcher, a glider pioneer, and designed and built a lightweight engine for Pilcher’s new triplane named The Hawk.
Pilcher died in a crash in 1899 before the engine could be fitted. Experts believe had this not happened they would have achieved powered flight five years before the Wright brothers.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel