Lancelot De Mole - De Mole's Formal Claim - Commission's Rejection

Commission's Rejection

The Royal Commission rejected the claims of Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick Lewis Maitland Boothby, Commodore M.F. Sueter, Major Thomas Gerard Hetherington — the separate claims of Boothby, Sueter, and Hetherington were rejected on the grounds that the important services that they had rendered came within the scope of their military employment — and that of Colonel R.E.B. Crompton and his assistant Mr. Lucien Alphonse Legros, on the basis that they had they had "worked loyally and very hard" at their alloted tasks, they had been well-paid as consulting engineers, and had neither invented nor discovered any of the special features that were ultimately incorporated in the tanks.

In de Mole's case, however, the Commission's Report was far more sympathetic:

Claim of Mr. L. E. de Mole
The case of this claimant was heard a few days after
the conclusion of the other cases. We consider that he
is entitled to the greatest credit for having made and
reduced to practical shape as far back as the year 1912
a very brilliant invention which anticipated and in some
respects surpassed that actually put into use in the year
1916. It was this claimant's misfortune and not his fault
that his invention was in advance of his time, and failed
to he appreciated and was put aside because the occasion
for its use had not then arise n. We regret exceedingly that
we are unable to recommend any award to him. But we are
bound to adhere to the general rule in such cases as these
that a claimant must show a causal connexion between the
making of his invention and the user of any similar
invention by the Government.