Medals belonging to man credited with invention of tank donated

Walter Gordon Wilson’s medals were stolen many years ago but have now ended up in the Bovington museum thanks to a donation by Walter’s grandson, Brigadier Henry Wilson. 

When Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty during WWI pushed for ‘landships’ to be created, Mr Wilson was put in charge of testing. 

With William Tritton of the agricultural manufacturing firm Fosters of Lincoln, he worked to create what would become known as the tank. 

He is credited with inventing numerous key features, notably the track design for the test vehicle Little Willie, now on display at the museum. 

Brigadier Henry Wilson (Image: PR)

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. 

The donated medals are the War Medal – awarded to all those who served in WWI – and the Companion of the Most Distinguished Order of St Michael and St George (CMG). 

The CMG was awarded in June 1917 in recognition of Wilson’s contribution to the war effort. 

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.” 

The Willie tank (Image: PR)

Brigadier Henry Wilson, grandson of the inventor, added: “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. 

“My grandfather, after a brief early spell in the Royal Navy, studied mechanical science at King’s College, Cambridge. 

“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.”