Tanks for the Memory

The country was in desperate need of money to pay for the Great War.  Throughout the war the Government had been trying to encourage people to invest in war loans and saving certificates. None of the earlier issues had been particularly popular.

In 1918 there was some desperation as Britain was on the brink of bankruptcy.  In March, 1918 towns began to hold ‘Tank Days’.  Tank Drake (yes, it was a male tank – the sex of a tank depended on the kind of weaponry it had ). With a great flourish Tank Drake lumbered up to the Market Square and settled itself down. The next day, investors could buy their loans or savings certificates, have a good look at the tank and have their bonds stamped. It brought a huge crowd, who could also listen to the band and watch the aircraft ducking and diving overhead and sending down leaflets about it.

You will have to look quite carefully in order to see the tank in the centre of the picture

Taken from the Bromley & District Times, 22nd March 1918

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