Walter Gordon Wilson Major Walter Gordon Wilson ( 1874 – 1957 ) was a mechanical engineer , inventor 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 . Education . Walter was born in Blackrock , County Dublin on 21 April 1874 . He was a naval cadet on HMS " Britannia " . In 1894 he entered King ' s College , Cambridge , where he studied the mechanical sciences tripos , graduating with a first class degree , B . A . , in 1897 . Wilson acted as ' mechanic ' for the Hon C . S . Rolls on several occasions while they were undergraduates in Cambridge . Aero engine 1898 . Interested in powered flight he collaborated with Percy Sinclair Pilcher and the Hon Adrian Verney - Cave later Lord Braye to attempt to make an aero - engine from 1898 . After the prototype was designed but before it was built Pilcher was killed in an 1899 gliding accident . The shock ended Wilson ' s plans and he switched to building the Wilson – Pilcher motor car which used epicyclic gear s . After marrying in 1904 he joined Armstrong - Whitworth to design their car . The sole known surviving Wilson - Pilcher car is maintained in Derby by the Rolls - Royce Heritage Trust . From 1908 to 1914 he worked with J & E Hall of Dartford designing the Hallford lorry which saw extensive service with the army during World War I . Tanks . With the outbreak of the First World War , Wilson rejoined the navy and the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division , which protected the Royal Naval Air Service in France . When the Admiralty began investigating armoured fighting vehicles under the Landships Committee in 1915 20 Squadron was assigned to it and Wilson was placed in charge of the experiments . Wilson worked with the agricultural engineer William Tritton resulting in the first British tank called " Little Willie " . At Wilson ' s suggestion the tracks were extended right round the vehicle . This second design first called Wilson , then the Centipede then " Big Willie " and finally " Mother " became the prototype for the Mark I tank . Designing several of the early British tanks , he incorporated epicyclic gearing which was used in the Mark V tank to allow it to be steered by a single driver rather than the four previously needed . In 1937 he provided a new steering design which gave a larger turning radius at higher speeds . He transferred to the British Army in 1916 becoming a Major in the Heavy Branch of the Machine Gun Corps - the embryonic Tank Corps . He was mentioned in dispatches twice and was appointed companion of the Order of St Michael and St George in 1917 . Wilson self - changing gearbox . In 1928 he invented a self - changing gearbox , and formed Improved Gears Ltd with J D Siddeley to develop the design commercially . Improved Gears later became Self - Changing Gears Ltd . Wilson self - changing gearboxes were available on most subsequent Armstrong Siddeley automobiles , manufactured up to 1960 , as well as on Daimler , Lanchester , Talbot , ERA , AC , Invicta and Riley automobiles as well as buses , railcars and marine launches . His work on gears was used in many British tanks .