The awards made to Tank designers by the Royal Commission
on Awards to Inventors were announced in the newspapers on Friday week. The grants, amounting in all to £18,000, were allotted as follows : £15,000 between Sir William Tritton and Major Wilson ; £1,000 to Major-General Swinton ; £1,000 to Sir E. Tennyson d'Eyncourt ; £500 each to Lieutenant R. F. Macfie and Mr. A. C. Nesfield. The Commission recorded their view " that it was primarily due to the receptivity, courage, and driving force of Mr. Winston Churchill that the general idea of the use of such an instrument of warfare as the Tank was con- verted into a practical shape." Commodore Sueter, Major Hetherington, Lieutenant-Colonel Boothby, Colonel Crompton, and Mr. Le Gros were all mentioned as having contributed "in a definite degree to the evolution and adoption of the Tanks, but the Commission rule that no award should be made to a servant of the Crown for the efficient discharge of duties definitely assigned to him."
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