Winston Churchill’s role in the invention of the tank He wondered if it could be modified to become an armoured attack vehicle which could negotiate the mud of the battlefields. Ironically, the British Army bought some of these American-manufactured machines, now called Holt Tractors, to tow heavy artillery at the beginning of WW1.īy chance, in December 1914, a high-ranking British Army officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Ernest Swinton, saw a Holt Tractor in action. They sold its patent to The Holt Manufacturing Company of California (now known as the Caterpillar Tractor Company) who started mass-production of the vehicle. Unfortunately for Richard Hornsby & Sons, their innovative caterpillar-wheeled tractor was not a commercial success.
Realising its potential, the company contacted the British Army, who were impressed by what they saw. It was an oil-driven tractor equipped with the world’s first caterpillar track. In 1905, Richard Hornsby & Sons of Grantham invented a vehicle capable of driving across rough and muddy terrain. The tank was developed and then manufactured here in Lincolnshire.
Notorious for its huge loss of life, it used machines such as tanks and aeroplanes for the first time. World War One is credited as being the first ‘modern’ war.
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