Official designation:- Tank Medium, Mark A. Built 1918 by William Foster & Co Ltd. British serial:- A259. One of five survivors of the 200 built. This was the actual tank from which Lieutenant Cecil Sewell won a Victoria Cross in August 1918. On display in the Tank Story Hall at The Tank Museum, Bovington, Dorset, UK. 26th July 2016

The following info is from the excellent Tank Museum website:- “While the heavy tanks were designed for direct attacks against enemy trenches the Tank Corps also wanted a lighter, faster tank to work with the cavalry over open country. Designed by Sir William Tritton and built by Fosters of Lincoln the Medium A, or Whippet, was the only such tank to see service with the Tank Corps, starting in 1918.

The Whippet was a difficult tank to drive; it had two engines, two clutches and two gearboxes but it was fast, by 1918 standards and very manoeuvrable in skilled hands. Even so experience soon showed that it was incapable of working with the cavalry and, in truth, should have been seen as an alternative. The Whippet was powered by a pair of Tylor four-cylinder engines, the same type that would be found in London buses of that period.”

This exhibit is the tank from which Lieutenant Cecil Sewell dismounted to save the crew of another tank at Fremicourt, France on 29th August 1918. He was killed during the resuce and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.” A plate on the nose reads as follows:-

“LIEUT. C.H. SEWELL COMMANDED THIS TANK AT FREMINCOURT IN AUG. 1918. IN FULL VIEW OF THE ENEMY, AND REGARDLESS OF HIS PERSONAL SAFETY, HE RESCUED THE CREW OF AN OVERTURNED TANK.