Carlton China British Mark IV Tank

Published in Windlesora 33 (2016)

© WLHG 2018

An article in Windlesora 23 told the story of Goss and Crested China, and which shops in Windsor stocked these collectable items. China pieces bearing the Windsor crest could only be bought from one of the designated Windsor shops, and made an interesting reminder of a visit. During the Great War, demand for these souvenir items dried up as tourism ceased, and many employees went off to war. The remaining factories switched production from holiday souvenirs to a patriotic military range, including warships and artillery guns, and these proved popular at the time.

In 1917, Carlton China issued a china model of the British Mark IV Tank that had performed so successfully in the Somme Offensive in September 1916. A variety of city and town crests were shown on the side of the tanks; the crest of Windsor is shown in the photographs below. Carlton made the tanks in different sizes, and the tank pictured is 52mm high and 131mm long.

One side of the tank is inscribed ‘Buy War Bonds. The Tank Bank‘ and beneath it is the inscription ‘The British Tank successfully used against the Germans Combles, Sep. 1916‘. The top of the tank is inscribed ‘HMLS‘ (His Majesty’s Land Ship), with the name of the tank. Créme de Menthe, on the front. Land ships, like sea-going ships, also had numbers and the number 130 is inscribed on the other side of the tank, together with the Windsor coat of arms.

Carlton, however, were mistaken about the name of this tank: Crème de Menthe was a Mark I tank, and the Mark IV tank with the number 130 was HMLS Nelson. During the war, six Mark IV tanks toured the UK to promote the sale of War Bonds, and Nelson was one of the tanks involved.

In 1920, a Mark IV tank was given to the Royal Borough in recognition of the generous aid raised by the people of Windsor towards the expenses of the war. It was displayed in Bachelors’ Acre until 1940, when it was taken away for scrap metal to make munitions for the next war. ⁽¹⁾

Derek Hunt

---

Sources

References

1. Windsor in the Great War by Derek Hunt and Dr Brigitte Mitchell, 2014.

---

Navigation

◄ Previous

Windlesora 33

Next ►

---