Demobilisation and disbandment wrought havoc with the Tank Corps; indeed its very existence was threatened. One of the staunchest and most visionary proponents of the tank was Colonel (later Major General) J F C Fuller, at this time Head of SD4 in the War Office, responsible for all-arms training. Another man with both vision and voice was Winston Churchill.

The Seventh was disbanded on 24 May 1919.

“Our God and soldier we alike adore When at the brink of ruin, not before. After deliverance, both alike requited, Our God forgotten and our soldiers slighted”
Francis Quarles 1592-1644‘,

Nothing new!

The Fourth remained briefly in Germany as part of a Tank Corps group which itself was fast dwindling because of demobilisation. The Battalion was reconstituted at Wareham in February 1920 under Lt Col E B Hankey and thereafter spawned a series of armoured car companies, used to put down trouble in various parts of the Empire.

1st and 2nd Armd Car Coys equipped with Rolls Royce cars were rushed to Iraq in March 1920 to help put down a rebellion; later 3rd and 4th Coys went to Egypt and Palestine, the 5th to China and the 7th and 8th to India. 3rd Coy is shown here in Hassan Abdul, Egypt.

The 4th Bn provided armoured cars in Edinburgh during the confrontational coal strike. They also provided the permanent staff for the 19th Armd Car Coy (Lothian and Border Horse) an association that was to last for 48 years. Thus began the Fourth’s links with Scotland.

In 1923 The Tank Corps was granted the Royal Prefix and a new cap badge was taken into use.

The Black Beret was adopted by the Royal Tank Corps in 1924. Here it is worn by our Colonel in Chief and by our Colonel Commandant, Major General Sir Ernest Swinton KBE,CB,DSO.

In 1926 the Fourth moved to Catterick and remained there for nine years. By 1935 the regiment was almost entirely made up of men from Scotland and Northern England. Here Staff Sergeant (later RSM Sinclair, killed during the escape from Dunkirk) dispenses cups of gunfire?? – celebrating Cambrai perhaps!!

4th Armd Car Coy, Egypt 1928.

Throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s the Fourth Battalion”s progeny – the armoured car and light tank companies – remained deployed throughout the Empire.7 Coy are shown here in Peshawar, India

Bovington instructors training? 24 April 1929.	Many of these officers and men would fight and die within ten years.

The Fourth were finalists in the Army Rugby Cup in 1931.	The Officers of the Fourth in Catterick in 1932 CO Lt Col M A Studd DSO MC

The Fourth were in Catterick for nine years where they concentrated on infantry/tank cooperation. They thus missed the first three exciting years of tactical experimentation centred on 1st Tk Bde, here seen on exercises in 1932 under Brigadier Charles Broad and later under Brigadier Percy Hobart.

The Fourth”s Sports Team 1933.

Lt Col Dakeyne DSO Commanding in Catterick.

Between 1933 and 1937 the Fourth had an outstanding football team. It is believed that this was at the end of the 1933 season in which they reached the semi-finals of the Army Cup.

The Fourth training in Scotland, Summer 1934.

WOs and Sgts of the Fourth in Catterick in 1934.

In the 1934/5 season the Fourth won through to the final of the Army FA Cup by beating the Black Watch 3-1. Lance Sergeant “Jock” Armitt (a hero at Arras six years later and eventually RSM of the Seventh) is seated second from right.

The Fourth won the Army Cup by beating the Royal Ulster Rifles in the final by six goals to three. By the age of 25 Lance Sergeant Armitt, seated second left, had scored 100 goals for the Regiment and he added to his tally in both matches. He went on to play for the Army and was selected to play for Scotland but postings intervened.

In 1935 the Fourth joined 1st Tk Bde and moved first to Catherington Down, Petersfield and a year later to Pinehurst Barracks, Farnborough. They were equipped with Vickers Medium Tank Mk I and II, and Light Tank Mk VI B.

Vickers Medium Mk II “Deogh” training in Hampshire and…	…and in Scotland – Redesdale near Hawick.

The Fourth”s Hockey team 1936 The captain seated centre is H R B Foote (later VC DSO).	It would appear that in the 1936/7 Season the Fourth again reached the semi-finals of the Army Cup

In the shadow of impending war the Royal Tank Corps was rapidly expanded. 7th Battalion Royal Tank Corps was reformed at Catterick on 21 May 1937, receiving drafts from the Fourth.

On 4 April 1939 4th and 7th Bns RTC became 4th and 7th Bns RTR. Strictly speaking they did not become 4 RTR and 7 RTR until 18 September 1945 but for editorial convenience we shall hereafter refer to them as such. On the same day the Royal Armoured Corps was created from the tank regiments and the mechanised cavalry and Yeomanry. A further twelve Royal Tank Regiments began to be formed from territorial infantry battalions.