Walter Tull | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1888-04-28)28 April 1888 Folkestone, England | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 25 March 1918(1918-03-25) (aged 29)[1] nearFavreuil,Pas-de-Calais, France | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Military career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Allegiance | United Kingdom | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Service | British Army | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years of service | 1914–1918 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rank | Second lieutenant | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Unit | Middlesex Regiment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Battles / wars | World War I | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Walter Daniel John Tull (28 April 1888 – 25 March 1918) was an English professionalfootballer andBritish Army officer ofAfro-Caribbean descent. He played as aninside forward andhalf back forClapton,Tottenham Hotspur andNorthampton Town and was the third person ofmixed heritage to play in the top division of theFootball League afterArthur Wharton andWillie Clarke. He was also the first player of African descent to sign forRangers in 1917, while stationed in Scotland.
During theFirst World War, Tull served in theMiddlesex Regiment, including in the twoFootballers' Battalions. He was commissioned as asecond lieutenant on 30 May 1917 and killed in action on 25 March 1918.
Walter Daniel John Tull was born inFolkestone, Kent,[1] the son ofBarbadian carpenter Daniel Tull and Kent-born Alice Elizabeth Palmer. His paternal grandfather was a slave inBarbados.[2] His maternal English grandmother was from Kent. He began his education at North Board School, now Mundella Primary School, Folkestone.[3]
In 1895, when Tull was seven, his mother died of cancer. A year later, his father married Alice's cousin, Clara Palmer. She gave birth to a daughter, Miriam, on 11 September 1897. Three months later, Daniel died from heart disease. The stepmother was unable to cope with five children, so the resident minister of Folkestone's Grace HillWesleyan Chapel recommended that the two boys of school age, Walter and Edward, should be sent to an orphanage.[4] From the age of nine, Tull was brought up in theMethodist Children's Home and Orphanage (now known asAction for Children) inBethnal Green, London. Edward was adopted by the Warnock family ofGlasgow, becoming Edward Tull-Warnock; he qualified as adentist, the first mixed-heritage person to practise this profession in the United Kingdom.[5]
Tull's professionalfootball career began after he was spotted playing for top amateur clubClapton. He had signed for Clapton in October 1908, reportedly never playing in a losing side. By the end of the season he had won winners' medals in theFA Amateur Cup, London County Amateur Cup and theLondon Senior Cup. In March 1909, theFootball Star called him "the catch of the season".[6][7][8] At Clapton, he played alongsideClyde Purnell andCharlie Rance.
At the age of 21, Tull signed forFootball League First Division teamTottenham Hotspur in the summer of 1909 after a close-season tour of Argentina and Uruguay, making him the first mixed-heritage professional footballer to play inLatin America. Tull made his debut for Tottenham in September 1909 in the position ofinside forward againstSunderland and his home Football League debut againstFA Cup-holders,Manchester United, in front of more than 30,000.[9] His excellent form in this opening part of the season promised a great future. Tull made only 10 first-team appearances, scoring twice, before he was dropped to the reserves.[10] This may have been due to the racial abuse he received from opposing fans, particularly atBristol City, whose supporters used language "lower thanBillingsgate",[a] according to a report at the time in theFootball Star newspaper.[12] The match report of the game away to Bristol City in October 1909 byFootball Star reporter, "DD", was headlined "Football and the Colour Prejudice", possibly the first time racial abuse was headlined in a football report.[13] "DD" emphasised how Tull remained professional and composed despite the intense provocation: "He is Hotspur's most brainy forward ... so clean in mind and method as to be a model for all white men who play football ... Tull was the best forward on the field." However, soon after, Tull was dropped from the first team and found it difficult to get a sustained run back in the side. Goodwin writes inThe Spurs Alphabet that "whilst a skilful player, he was not considered fast enough for top class football."[10]
Further appearances in the first team (20 in total with four goals) were recorded, before Tull's contract was bought bySouthern Football League clubNorthampton Town on 17 October 1911 for a "substantial fee", plusCharlie Brittain joining Tottenham Hotspur in return.[14] Tull made his debut four days later againstWatford, and made 111 first-team appearances (105 in the League), scoring nine goals for the club.[15] The day before theRMSTitanic sank on 15 April 1912, Tull scored four goals in a match againstBristol Rovers.[16] The managerHerbert Chapman, also a Methodist, was a former Spurs player and had played as a young man withArthur Wharton atStalybridge Rovers; Chapman went on to manage bothHuddersfield Town andArsenal to FA Cup wins andLeague championships.
In 1940, an article in theGlasgow Evening Times about Tull being the first "coloured"infantryofficer in the British Army reported that he had signed to play forRangers after the war. Rangers have confirmed that Tull signed for them in February 1917,[17] while he was anofficer cadet in Scotland at Gailes, Ayrshire.
After theFirst World War broke out in August 1914, Tull became the first Northampton Town player to enlist in theBritish Army, in December of that year. Tull served in the twoFootball Battalions of theDuke of Cambridge's Own (Middlesex) Regiment, the 17th and 23rd, and also in the 5th Battalion. He rose to the rank oflance sergeant and fought in theBattle of the Somme in 1916.
When Tull was commissioned as asecond lieutenant on 30 May 1917,[19] he became one of the first mixed-heritage infantry officers in a regular British Army regiment,[b] when the 1914 Manual of Military Law excluded soldiers that were not "natural born or naturalised British subjects of pure European descent" from becoming commissioned officers in theSpecial Reserve.[22]
With the 23rd Battalion, Tull fought on theItalian Front from 30 November 1917 to early March 1918. He was praised for his "gallantry and coolness" byMajor-GeneralSydney Lawford,General Officer Commanding41st Division, having led 26 men on a night-raiding party, crossing the fast-flowing rapids of thePiave River into enemy territory and returning them unharmed.
Tull and the 23rd Battalion returned to northern France on 8 March 1918. He waskilled in action near the village ofFavreuil in thePas-de-Calais on 25 March during theFirst Battle of Bapaume, the early stages of theGerman Army'sSpring Offensive.[23] His body was never recovered, despite the efforts of, among others, Private Tom Billingham, a former goalkeeper forLeicester Fosse, to return him to the British position while under fire.[24] He is believed to be buried somewhere in the Somme, but historian Andy Robertshaw has indicated he may be buried in an unmarked grave at Heninel-Croisilles Road cemetery.[25]
In a letter of condolence to his family, the commanding officer of the 23rd Battalion, Major Poole and his colleague 2Lt Pickard both said that Tull had been put forward for aMilitary Cross. Pickard wrote "he had been recommended for the Military Cross, and certainly earned it."[8] However, theMinistry of Defence has no record of any recommendation[26] but many records were lost in a 1940 fire.[27][28]
In the history of mixed-heritage footballers in Britain, Tull may be mentioned alongside:Robert Walker ofThird Lanark;Andrew Watson, an amateur who is credited as the earliest black international football player, winning his first cap forScotland in 1881;Arthur Wharton, agoalkeeper for several clubs, includingDarlington, and who became the first mixed-heritage professional in 1889;John Walker ofHearts andLincoln, who died aged 22; theAnglo-Indian Cother brothers, Edwin and John, who began their careers atWatford in 1898,[29] andWillie Clarke, who played forAston Villa andBradford City in theEdwardian era.
From around 2006, campaigners including the thenNorthampton SouthMP,Brian Binley, and Phil Vasili, who has researched Tull since the early 1990s, called for a statue to be erected in his honour atDover and for him to be posthumously awarded the Military Cross.[12][30] However, as the Military Cross was not authorised to be awarded posthumously until 1979, and the change did not include any provision for retrospective awards, this would not be possible without a change in the rules. The campaigners felt this would be justified given that the army broke the rules.[31] Tull's commission, at a time when the army was desperately short of officers was also due to his natural leadership, coolness and respect of his unit's officers and men.[citation needed] If he had been recommended for a Military Cross, his status as an officer of non-European descent might have meant to award him the honour would validate his status, leading to more mixed-heritage officers being commissioned.[32] ARoyal Army Medical Corps officerAllan Noel Minns, also a natural-born British subject of Afro-Caribbean descent, was awarded bothDSO andMC.
Tull is commemorated on Bay 7 of theArras Memorial,[1] which commemorates 34,785 soldiers with no known grave who died in the Arras sector.
His name was added to his parents' gravestone in Cheriton Road Cemetery, Folkestone. His older brother William, of theRoyal Engineers, died in 1920, aged 37, and is buried in the cemetery with aCommonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) headstone,[1] so his death was recognised as a result of his war service.
Tull's name is listed in the Roll of Honour for the City ofGlasgow, his address given as 419St. Vincent Street, the location of the dental surgery belonging to his brother Edward.
Tull's name appeared on thewar memorial at North Board School, Folkestone, unveiled on 29 April 1921.[33] He is named on theFolkestone War Memorial, at the top of the Road of Remembrance in Folkestone, and in Dover his name is on the town war memorial outsideMaison Dieu House, and on the parish memorial atRiver.[34]
On 11 July 1999, Northampton Town F.C. unveiled a memorial wall to Tull in a garden of remembrance atSixfields Stadium.[35] The text, written by Tull's biographer, Phil Vasili, reads:
Through his actions, W. D. J. Tull ridiculed the barriers of ignorance that tried to deny people of colour equality with their contemporaries. His life stands testament to a determination to confront those people and those obstacles that sought to diminish him and the world in which he lived. It reveals a man, though rendered breathless in his prime, whose strong heart still beats loudly.[36]
A road behind the North Stand (The Dave Bowen Stand) at Sixfields Stadium is named Walter Tull Way, and apublic house adjacent to the stadium bears his name.[37]
In 2010, aplanning application to erect a bronze memorial statue of Tull inGeraldine Mary Harmsworth Park close to theImperial War Museum in London, was refused bySouthwark London Borough Council.[38]
TheRoyal Mint included a£5 coin honouring Tull in the introductory First World War six-coin set, released in 2014.[39]
On 21 October 2014, ablue plaque was unveiled at 77Northumberland Park, London N17, on the site of the house where Tull lived before the war, close to theWhite Hart Lane ground. The plaque was provided by theNubian Jak Community Trust and was unveiled by former Spurs strikerGarth Crooks, who described Tull as an "amazing man" whose recognition had been "a long time coming".[40]
On 4 July 2017, five statues including one of Tull were unveiled in the courtyard ofNorthampton Guildhall. The bronze installations were commissioned byNorthampton Borough Council from sculptor Richard Austin.[41]
On 25 March 2018, to commemorate the centenary of Tull's death, Rushden & District History Society unveiled a blue plaque at 26 Queen Street,Rushden, where he lodged while playing at Northampton Town.[42]
In September 2018, to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War,Royal Mail produced a set of stamps, one of which features Tull.[43]
OnRemembrance Sunday 2018, the people ofAyr, Scotland, came together to etch a large sand portrait of Tull into the town's beach as part of "Pages of the Sea", a nationwide public art project curated byOscar-winning filmmakerDanny Boyle.[44]
In October 2020, as part ofBlack History Month, theRoyal Mail painted a postbox black in Glasgow to honour Tull.[45]
On 21 October 2021, Tull was inducted into theEnglish Football Hall of Fame of theNational Football Museum.[46]
In October 2022, Nick Marr launched a campaign onChange.org to honour Tull, advocating for Tull to be posthumously awarded the Military Cross and proposing the erection of a statue inCentral London.[47][48][49] The campaign highlights the historical and symbolic importance of formally acknowledging Tull's contributions, both as a soldier and as a trailblazer for racial equality. It also underscores the potential value of a statue in London to commemorate his legacy, serving as a reminder of his achievements and an inspiration to future generations.
In late 2024, a musical about Tull's life, written byDougie Blaxland with music by Chris Anthony, toured the UK.[50]
In July 2004, to honour the memory of Tull Tottenham Hotspur and Rangers contested in a summer friendly tournament dubbed theWalter Tull Trophy. Rangers won the Cup, defeating Spurs 2–0 with goals fromDado Pršo andNacho Novo.[51] The two clubs arranged and contested again in July 2022. This time Tottenham Hotspur beat Rangers 2–1 at Ibrox.[52]
In 2005Michaela Morgan wroteRespect!, an account of Tull's life, specifically written for young people and was published byBarrington Stoke. The book was shortlisted in the Birmingham Libraries young readers' book festival May 2008.[53]
Then in May 2008 two films were launched focusing on teaching about Tull which was made forTeachers TV.[54][55] Also in 2008 the BBC createdWalter's War, a drama about the life of Tull, starringO. T. Fagbenle and written byKwame Kwei-Armah, that was first screened on 9 November 2008 as part of the BBC's Ninety Years of Remembrance season.[56][57] The drama was aired alongsideForgotten Hero, a documentary about Tull.[58]
In 2016, Off The Records made an animated film about Tull's life,Walter Tull: Britain's First Black Officer, which was voiced by actorLiam Gerrard. The film was nominated for a children's BAFTA.[59][60]
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