It was presented to in 1919 as a thank you for the money it had raised towards the First World War effort. But when the decision was made 18 years later for it to be broken up, scrapped and sold for £51, there was an outcry. It's hard to believe now that a war tank arrived by train in Tunbridge Wells on July 30, 1919.
It was driven through the town and was put for all to see as a display on a patch of grass next to the then Post Office in Vale Road, which is now luxury flats. News of it being dismantled and scrapped even made the headlines across the Atlantic. The New York Sunday News ran a photo of the demolition of the tank, describing the "hissing flame of cutting torch and resounding blows of sledge hammer" as it was broken up to make "new armaments", it said.
A full report on the presentation of the tank to Tunbridge Wells was run by our newspapers, the Kentish Advertiser and Sevenoaks Chronicle, on Friday, August 1919. The tank was presented by the National War Savings Committee to the Tunbridge Wells mayor. The peace decorations had been purposely kept up in Camden Road for the procession of the tank, which started from the railway in Goods Station, where it had arrived, went up Camden Road, along Monson Road and York Road to Tunbridge Wells Common.
The newspaper reports the streets were lined with people and a crowd accompanied the tank as it made its way to its display spot, with many more waiting on the Common. The article said: "The pace of the tank was a very sta.