William Tritton

Sir William Ashbee Tritton, M.I.Mech.E., J.P. (born 1875, London; died September 1946, Lincoln) was an expert in agricultural machinery, and was directly involved, together with Major Walter Gordon Wilson, in the development of the tank. Early in the First World War he was asked to produce tractors for moving heavy howitzers, the result being eventually the first tanks. He was the son of a London stockbroker, educated at Christ's College Finchley and King's College London. In 1906 he joined William Foster & Co. Ltd in Lincoln, and from 1911 until 1939, he was chairman of the company, after which he became managing director. In 1916 he married Isobel Grahame Gillies. He was knighted in 1917.

He died in Lincoln aged 70 in September 1946. Tritton Road in Lincoln is named after him and a blue plaque is located at the entrance of a supermarket at the northern end of the road around the site of the original factories.