In November 1917 two Mark IV tanks took part in the Lord Mayor's Show, in the City of London and from that date, until at least May 1918, up to seven tanks toured around England, Wales and Scotland, raising money from the sale of War Bonds and War Savings Certificates.

At the end of the war the National War Savings Committee persuaded the Government to release 265 old tanks which were presented to towns and cities throughout England and Wales which had achieved good sales figures. We have still not ascertained whether the same applied in Scotland, although we know that tanks toured there during the war.

For years now, with the aid of local historians, postcard collectors and tank enthusiasts the Tank Museum has been collating material on these two events. It would seem to be a natural for the Web so can we ask you, where ever you are, if you can help? More details will appear in this section soon but for the moment here are two views of a tank in a location that we cannot identify.

August 2000: FOUND!
Ian Pearson has solved the problem of this tank and convincingly identified the location as Greyfriars Green in Coventry.

The tank was placed there in 1920 in recognition of Coventry's efforts, raising 8.5 million pounds in National War Bond Sales. However Coventry also played a key part in the tank story since it was the location of the Daimler factory which produced the engines for the first production tanks Marks I to IV and the Gun Carrier Machines. This may explain why Coventry received a male tank when the majority of those distributed were females, without weapons.

A local history publication explains that the tank was removed from Greyfriars Green to a new site in 1938 and then broken up for scrap, probably early in the war.

We will have more questions next time but look forward to comments from any local historians who have news of tanks in their area.