The Julian Tank by Idwal Davies

Local author Idwal Davies included a photo of a tank on display in Parc Howard in his 2007 book called “Gone, But Not Forgotten”. During a Parc Howard Open Meeting this year he told those present what he had found out about the tank and the people in the photo and how he had obtained the information. Idwal wrote down the story and it is included here in his own words…

The Julian Tank

The Julian Tank was shown in Parc Howard in between the two World Wars – World War I and World War II.

 How did this World War I tank come to be on show in Parc Howard in the first place?

 In 2007 I published a book called “Gone, But Not Forgotten”, and this was about my growing up as a young boy in the 1930’s and as a teenager during the 1940’s and World War II.

 As a young boy in the 1930’s, my friends and myself played, many times, on and inside this tank and pretended that we were tankmen and were fighting the Germans.

When I wrote in my book, it was only natural that I would include this tank in the book as it had played a part in my life so long ago – and I also included a photo of the tank itself. The photo also showed a lady with a little girl – I would say about 4 years old.

A few months after the book went on sale, a letter appeared in the “Llanelli Star” from a gentleman who lived in Grimsby, in Lincolnshire, and he was asking if any of the readers of the “Llanelli Star” had any photos or information about this tank.

I spoke to this gentleman, on the phone, and the first question that I asked him was – “Why is somebody from Grimsby interested in a First World War tank that had been on show in Parc Howard between the two World Wars?”

He then told me that his name was Robert Scott and that he was a local historian, and that all those First World War tanks had been built in Lincolnshire. He also said that he was the president of a society dedicated to keeping the memory of these tanks alive for future generations to read about.

He then told me the reason why that tank was on show in Parc Howard. When World War I ended, approximately 270 of these tanks were given out to various towns and cities around Britain, but over the years these tanks were disappearing as more and more towns and cities no longer wanted them and were scrapping them. Robert Scott said it was now a race against time to garner as much information as they could about these tanks before they all disappeared altogether. I then sent him a photograph of the tank and also any other information that I had.

About ten days later Robert Scott phoned me up to say that since he had spoken to me on the phone, another person had got in touch with him about the Parc Howard tank and that it was a lady from Romford in Essex. He said that he had told the lady that I had an interest in this tank and that he had given her my name and address.

A week later I received a letter from this lady in which she said that her name was Madlen Davies and that the two people standing at the side of the tank were her relatives. The little girl was her mother and the lady was her grandmother. Her mother’s name was Dilys Mary Issac and her grandmother’s name was Mary Sophia Issac.

I then phoned Madlen Davies and had a long conversation with her and during that conversation she said that generations of her family had lived in 29 Glenalla Road for more than a hundred years.

I then told Madlen that I had lived in Andrew Street which is just four streets away and she then said that she had relatives living in Andrew Street and that they had lived in No 50 and No 52. As I was living in No 48 at the time then I was living next door to Madlen’s grandparents on her father’s side.

She – Madlen – then told me that as she had been living in Romford, in Essex, for quite a number of years, she had lost track of the Thomas side of her family and could I trace any of them in Llanelli.

I traced one of them to Chapman Street and his name was Watcyn Thomas and I was invited to visit them at home. I met Watcyn Thomas and his wife and during the conversation the subject of the Parc Howard tank came up.

Mrs Thomas then told me another story about the tank. When the tank came to Llanelli it arrived by train and it then had to be driven through the streets of Llanelli up to Parc Howard. However – on the journey up to Parc Howard – the tank engine kept breaking down and her father William Thomas was one of the tank crew – that day – who kept repairing and re-starting the engine until the tank finally arrived at it’s showplace in Parc Howard.

Finally – why was the tank removed from Parc Howard?

I asked quite a few people this question and received many suggested answers but having considered them all, there is one that I personally agree with – it had become a health hazard.

As young boys we could go inside the tank to play, and some of the boys would urinate and defecate inside this tank and it became very smelly and you never knew what you had stepped in and then taken around on your shoes outside the tank.

If only!!! If only someone had the sense at the time to have the tank hosed out, inside, and the tank welded shut so that no-one could enter, then maybe the tank would still be there and what a great attraction it would have been nowadays.

Idwal Davies

Julian Tank World War I, Parc Howard

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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