Ernest Dunlop Swinton
Encyclopedia
Major General
Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton, KBE
, CB
, DSO
, RE
(1868–1951) was a military writer and British Army
officer. Swinton is credited with influencing the development and adoption of the tank
by the British during the First World War. He is also known for popularising the term "no-mans land".(see Clan Swinton)
, Rugby School
, Cheltenham College
, Blackheath Proprietary School
and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He became an officer in the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1888, serving in India and becoming Lieutenant
in 1891.
He received the Distinguished Service Order
during the Second Boer War
. After the war, he wrote his book on small unit tactics, The Defence of Duffer's Drift, a military classic on minor tactics that has been used by the United States military to train its officers. In the years leading up to the First World War, he served as a staff officer and as an official historian of the Russo-Japanese War
.
on the Western Front
. Journalists were not allowed at the front and Swinton's reports were censored leading to an effectively uncontroversial although even-handed reporting.
In England, David Roberts
of Richard Hornsby & Sons
had attempted starting in 1911 to interest British military officials in a tracked vehicle, but failed. Benjamin Holt
of the Holt Manufacturing Company
bought the patents related to the "chain track" track-type tractor from Richard Hornsby & Sons
in 1914 for £4,000. When World War I broke out, with the problem of trench warfare
and the difficulty of transporting supplies to the front, the pulling power of crawling-type tractors drew the attention of the military.
The British War Office ordered a Holt tractor and put it through trials at Aldershot
. Although it was not as powerful as the 105 hp Foster-Daimler
tractor, the 75 hp Holt was better suited to haul heavy loads over uneven ground. Without a load, the Holt tractor managed a walking pace of 4 miles per hour (1.8 m/s). Towing a load, it could only manage 2 mile per hour (0.89408 m/s). Most importantly, Holt tractors were readily available in quantity. The War Office was suitably impressed and chose it as a gun-tractor.
Major Swinton, sent to France as an army war correspondent
, very soon saw the Holt artillery tractor
s in use and their potential for other uses. In November 1914 Swinton suggested to Sir Maurice Hankey, Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence, that the British build a power-driven, bullet-proof, tracked vehicle that could destroy enemy guns. The idea was initially ignored until Winston Churchill
, First Lord of the Admiralty, learned of it. This led to the formation of the Landships Committee
, although Swinton did not initially participate.
The War Office discarded Swinton's original proposal to use Holt company tractors, and instead chose to use a British firm, Foster and Sons
, whose managing director and designer was Sir William Tritton
.
In the same year he prepared from his own resources a propaganda
leaflet and had it dropped from aircraft over German troops. In 1916 Swinton was promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel
and given responsibility for training the first tank units. He created the first tactical instructions for armoured warfare
. The Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors decided after the war that the inventors of the tank were Sir William Tritton
, managing director of Fosters
and Major Walter Gordon Wilson
. By 1918, the War Office had received 2,100 Holt tractors.
After the war, General Swinton travelled to Stockton, California
to publicly honour Benjamin Holt and the company for their contribution to the war and to relay Britain's gratitude to the inventor. Benjamin Holt was recognized by the General at a public meeting held in Stockton.
In 1919 Swinton retired as a Major General
. He subsequently served in the Civil Aviation department at the Air Ministry
. He thereafter joined Citroën
in 1922 as a director. He was Chichele Professor of Military History at Oxford University and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
from 1925 to 1939; he was also Colonel Commandant of the Royal Tank Corps from 1934 to 1938.
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton, KBE
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
, CB
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, DSO
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
, RE
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
(1868–1951) was a military writer and British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer. Swinton is credited with influencing the development and adoption of the tank
Tank
A tank is a tracked, armoured fighting vehicle designed for front-line combat which combines operational mobility, tactical offensive, and defensive capabilities...
by the British during the First World War. He is also known for popularising the term "no-mans land".(see Clan Swinton)
Early life and career
Swinton was born in Bangalore, India in 1868. He was educated at University College SchoolUniversity College School
University College School, generally known as UCS, is an Independent school charity situated in Hampstead, north west London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views...
, Rugby School
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
, Cheltenham College
Cheltenham College
Cheltenham College is a co-educational independent school, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.One of the public schools of the Victorian period, it was opened in July 1841. An Anglican foundation, it is known for its classical, military and sporting traditions.The 1893 book Great...
, Blackheath Proprietary School
Blackheath Proprietary School
The Blackheath Proprietary School was an educational establishment founded in 1830 that was noted in the contemporary press as an extremely successful school in terms of its education but is perhaps most notable for its profound influence on the game of football, in both Association and Rugby codes...
and the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. He became an officer in the Corps of Royal Engineers in 1888, serving in India and becoming Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in 1891.
He received the Distinguished Service Order
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, and formerly of other parts of the British Commonwealth and Empire, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typically in actual combat.Instituted on 6 September...
during the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
. After the war, he wrote his book on small unit tactics, The Defence of Duffer's Drift, a military classic on minor tactics that has been used by the United States military to train its officers. In the years leading up to the First World War, he served as a staff officer and as an official historian of the Russo-Japanese War
Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War was "the first great war of the 20th century." It grew out of rival imperial ambitions of the Russian Empire and Japanese Empire over Manchuria and Korea...
.
First World War
The War Minister, Lord Kitchener appointed Swinton as the official British war correspondentWar correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
on the Western Front
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. Journalists were not allowed at the front and Swinton's reports were censored leading to an effectively uncontroversial although even-handed reporting.
Development of tanks
Swinton recounts in his book Eyewitness how he first got the sudden idea to build a tank on 19 October 1914, while driving a car in France. It is known he in July 1914 received a letter from a friend, the South-African engineer Hugh Merriot, asking his attention for the fact that armoured tractors might be very useful in warfare.In England, David Roberts
David Roberts (engineer)
David Roberts was the Chief Engineer and managing director of Richard Hornsby & Sons in the early 1900s...
of Richard Hornsby & Sons
Richard Hornsby & Sons
Richard Hornsby & Sons was an engine and machinery manufacturer in Lincolnshire, England from 1828 until 1918. The company was a pioneer in the manufacture of the oil engine developed by Herbert Akroyd Stuart and marketed under the Hornsby-Akroyd name. The company developed an early track system...
had attempted starting in 1911 to interest British military officials in a tracked vehicle, but failed. Benjamin Holt
Benjamin Holt
Benjamin Leroy Holt was an American inventor who was the first to patent and manufacture a first practical crawler-type tread tractor. The continuous-type track is used for heavy agricultural and engineering vehicles to spread the weight over a large area to prevent the vehicle from sinking into...
of the Holt Manufacturing Company
Holt Manufacturing Company
The Holt Manufacturing Company traces its roots to the 1883 establishment of Stockton Wheel Service in Stockton, California, United States. Benjamin Holt, who was later credited with patenting the first workable crawler tractor design, incorporated the Holt Manufacturing Company in 1892...
bought the patents related to the "chain track" track-type tractor from Richard Hornsby & Sons
Richard Hornsby & Sons
Richard Hornsby & Sons was an engine and machinery manufacturer in Lincolnshire, England from 1828 until 1918. The company was a pioneer in the manufacture of the oil engine developed by Herbert Akroyd Stuart and marketed under the Hornsby-Akroyd name. The company developed an early track system...
in 1914 for £4,000. When World War I broke out, with the problem of trench warfare
Trench warfare
Trench warfare is a form of occupied fighting lines, consisting largely of trenches, in which troops are largely immune to the enemy's small arms fire and are substantially sheltered from artillery...
and the difficulty of transporting supplies to the front, the pulling power of crawling-type tractors drew the attention of the military.
The British War Office ordered a Holt tractor and put it through trials at Aldershot
Aldershot
Aldershot is a town in the English county of Hampshire, located on heathland about southwest of London. The town is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council...
. Although it was not as powerful as the 105 hp Foster-Daimler
William Foster & Co.
William Foster & Co Ltd was an agricultural machinery company based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England and usually just called "Fosters of Lincoln." The company can be traced back to 1846, when William Foster purchased a flour mill in Lincoln. William Foster then proceeded to start small scale...
tractor, the 75 hp Holt was better suited to haul heavy loads over uneven ground. Without a load, the Holt tractor managed a walking pace of 4 miles per hour (1.8 m/s). Towing a load, it could only manage 2 mile per hour (0.89408 m/s). Most importantly, Holt tractors were readily available in quantity. The War Office was suitably impressed and chose it as a gun-tractor.
Major Swinton, sent to France as an army war correspondent
War correspondent
A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories firsthand from a war zone. In the 19th century they were also called Special Correspondents.-Methods:...
, very soon saw the Holt artillery tractor
Artillery tractor
Artillery tractor is a kind of tractor, also referred to as a gun tractor, a vehicle used to tow artillery pieces of varying weights.-Traction:...
s in use and their potential for other uses. In November 1914 Swinton suggested to Sir Maurice Hankey, Secretary of the Committee of Imperial Defence, that the British build a power-driven, bullet-proof, tracked vehicle that could destroy enemy guns. The idea was initially ignored until Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, First Lord of the Admiralty, learned of it. This led to the formation of the Landships Committee
Landships Committee
The Landships Committee was a small British war cabinet committee established in February 1915 to deal with the design and construction of what would turn out to be tanks during the First World War...
, although Swinton did not initially participate.
The War Office discarded Swinton's original proposal to use Holt company tractors, and instead chose to use a British firm, Foster and Sons
William Foster & Co.
William Foster & Co Ltd was an agricultural machinery company based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England and usually just called "Fosters of Lincoln." The company can be traced back to 1846, when William Foster purchased a flour mill in Lincoln. William Foster then proceeded to start small scale...
, whose managing director and designer was Sir William Tritton
William Tritton
Sir William Ashbee Tritton, M.I.Mech.E., J.P. was an expert in agricultural machinery, and was directly involved, together with Major Walter Gordon Wilson, in the development of the tank...
.
In the same year he prepared from his own resources a propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
leaflet and had it dropped from aircraft over German troops. In 1916 Swinton was promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
and given responsibility for training the first tank units. He created the first tactical instructions for armoured warfare
Armoured warfare
Armoured warfare or tank warfare is the use of armoured fighting vehicles in modern warfare. It is a major component of modern methods of war....
. The Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors decided after the war that the inventors of the tank were Sir William Tritton
William Tritton
Sir William Ashbee Tritton, M.I.Mech.E., J.P. was an expert in agricultural machinery, and was directly involved, together with Major Walter Gordon Wilson, in the development of the tank...
, managing director of Fosters
William Foster & Co.
William Foster & Co Ltd was an agricultural machinery company based in Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England and usually just called "Fosters of Lincoln." The company can be traced back to 1846, when William Foster purchased a flour mill in Lincoln. William Foster then proceeded to start small scale...
and Major Walter Gordon Wilson
Walter Gordon Wilson
Major Walter Gordon Wilson was an engineer and member of the British Royal Naval Air Service. He was credited by the 1919 Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors as the co-inventor of the tank, along with Sir William Tritton....
. By 1918, the War Office had received 2,100 Holt tractors.
After the war, General Swinton travelled to Stockton, California
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
to publicly honour Benjamin Holt and the company for their contribution to the war and to relay Britain's gratitude to the inventor. Benjamin Holt was recognized by the General at a public meeting held in Stockton.
In 1919 Swinton retired as a Major General
Major General
Major general or major-general is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. A major general is a high-ranking officer, normally subordinate to the rank of lieutenant general and senior to the ranks of brigadier and brigadier general...
. He subsequently served in the Civil Aviation department at the Air Ministry
Air Ministry
The Air Ministry was a department of the British Government with the responsibility of managing the affairs of the Royal Air Force, that existed from 1918 to 1964...
. He thereafter joined Citroën
Citroën
Citroën is a major French automobile manufacturer, part of the PSA Peugeot Citroën group.Founded in 1919 by French industrialist André-Gustave Citroën , Citroën was the first mass-production car company outside the USA and pioneered the modern concept of creating a sales and services network that...
in 1922 as a director. He was Chichele Professor of Military History at Oxford University and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford
All Souls College, Oxford
The Warden and the College of the Souls of all Faithful People deceased in the University of Oxford or All Souls College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England....
from 1925 to 1939; he was also Colonel Commandant of the Royal Tank Corps from 1934 to 1938.