Local resident related to inventor of first British tank

More than nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a result of the war.

A Boksburg resident, Howard Skeens, is proud to say that his great grandfather, Frederick Skeens, was one out of six inventors who invented one of the first type of modern day tank used by the British in the war.

The idea for a vehicle, with caterpillar tractors along with moving treads that could navigate the rough terrain, developed among the British army.

At the time, numerous countries, including France, Russia and America were also busy developing an armoured vehicle that travel over rough terrain made difficult by trench warfare.

It was realised by the British army that if such a vehicle were covered with armour, it might be just the very thing to get into and over the other side’s trenches.

The idea was passed along to the government and Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralt. He was intrigued by the idea and started a project to develop the idea.

“Frederick Skeens was part of a secret group that was tasked with this weaponry,” says Howard.

Among the other inventors were Sir Eustace Tennyson d’ Eyncourt, Sir Walter G Wilson, Sir Albert Stern, Sir William Tritton and Col Kenneth Symes.

Howard’s great grandfather was especially known for the invention of the rotating gun turrets, or spherical ball-mountings on the side of the tank and was rewarded the MBE (Member of the British Empire).

Nowadays, the turrets are positioned on top of the modern tanks.

According to Skeens, the word ‘tank’ was used as an expedient to maintain secrecy and to disguise its true purpose.

At the time the project was so top secret that the workers were told that they were working on water carriers – naturally, they began to call them “tanks,” short for water tanks, and the name stuck.

Tanks were used efficiently during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, fought by the armies of the British and French empires against the German Empire.

The first batch of tanks broke down before they got very far, but a few did get past the enemy trenches. The army saw the potential and got production underway. A year later, in November of 1917, they were for the first time used effectively to break through the enemy lines.

“The tank proved to be very effective for modern day warfare – it travelled over trenches and bob wire, while troops could hide behind it,” says Howard.

As part of his legacy, Frederick Skeens wrote a letter to his descendants that’s been passed on throughout generations, together with enclosed copies of official photographs of two tanks which were taken in Thiepval, and the MBE he was rewarded.

The original photographs are now in the Royal Armoured Corps Tank Museun, Bovington Camp, Wareham, Dorset, in England.

The signatories on the photographs were officially announced in Parliament as the recognised inventors.

Skeen’s will pass on the historical documents to his son, Ryan.

“It feels good to know that my great grandfather was part of the invention of an armored fighting vehicle. Not a lot of people can say that a family member invented something that had such a great impact on war.”

He says that this interesting bit of news about his children’s great-great grandfather have also been of interest when they (Ryan, Tarryn and Shannon) did school projects.

“My children will hopefully be happy for carrying the surname ‘Skeens’.” – @IschkeBoksburg