Walter Tull

Early life

Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent, the son of Barbadian carpenter Daniel Tull and Kent-born Alice Elizabeth Palmer. His grandfather was a slave in Barbados. His maternal English grandmother was from Kent. He began his education at North Board School, now Mundella Primary School, Folkestone.

In 1895, when Walter 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 so many children. The resident minister of Grace Hill Wesleyan Chapel, recommended that the two boys of school-age, Walter and Edward, should be sent to the National Children's Home orphanage in Bethnal Green.

Edward was adopted by the Warnock family of Glasgow, and qualified as a dentist, the first mixed-heritage person to practise this profession in the United Kingdom.

Football career

His football career started at Clapton where he played alongside Clyde Honeysett Purnell and Charlie Rance in the team that won the London County Amateur Cup, the London Senior Cup and FA Amateur Cup in 1908–09.

At the age of 21, Tull signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1909, after a close-season tour of Argentina and Uruguay, making him the first mixed-heritage professional footballer to play in Latin America. Tull made his debut for Tottenham in September 1909 at inside forward against Sunderland, making him the third mixed-heritage player to play in the top division (after goalkeeper Arthur Wharton of Sheffield United, and Billy Clarke of Aston Villa. Tull made only 10 first-team appearances, scoring twice, before he was dropped to the reserves. This may have been due to the racial abuse he received from opposing fans, particularly at Bristol City, whose supporters used language "lower than Billingsgate", according to a report at the time in the Football Star newspaper.

Further appearances in the first team (20 in total with four goals) were recorded before Tull was bought by Herbert Chapman's Northampton Town on 17 October 1911 for a "substantial fee" plus Charlie Brittain joining Tottenham Hotspur in return. Tull made his debut four days later against Watford, and made in all 111 first-team appearances and nine goals for the club. He lived in Rushden and at one time at the home of Miss Annie Williams at 26 Queen Street.

When the First World War broke out in August 1914 Tull enlisted in the British Army, in December, the first Northampton Town player to do so. It was reported in the Glasgow Evening Times in 1940, during the Second World War, in an article about Tull being the first 'coloured' infantry officer in the British Army, that he had signed to play for Rangers once the war was over. This has since been confirmed, with Rangers informing Tull had signed for them in February 1917, while in Scotland training to be an officer.

World War I

During the First World War Tull served in both Footballers' Battalions of the Middlesex Regiment, 17th and 23rd, and also in the 5th Battalion, rising to the rank of sergeant and fighting in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. When Tull was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 30 May 1917 (still in the Middlesex Regiment), he became the first mixed-heritage infantry officer in a regular British Army regiment, despite the 1914 Manual of Military Law specifically excluding soldiers that were not 'of pure European descent' from becoming commissioned officers. (Nathaniel Wells, the son of a white plantation owner and a black slave, received a Yeomanry commission in 1818; George Bemand was commissioned in the Royal Field Artillery in 1915, although on his attestation form he categorises himself as being of 'pure European descent'; and David Clemetson was commissioned in the territorial Pembroke Yeomanry in October 1915). Tull's superior officers recommended him for a commission regardless. Tull fought on the Italian Front from November 1917 to early March 1918. He was cited for his "gallantry and coolness" by Major-General Sydney Lawford, General Officer Commanding (GOC) 41st Division, having led 26 men on a night raiding party, crossing the fast-flowing rapids of the River Piave into enemy territory and returning them unharmed, and in a letter of condolence to his family, 2nd-Lt Pickhard said that "he had been recommended for the Military Cross, and certainly earned it." However, the MoD claim that there is no record of any such recommendation in his service files in the National Archives. He returned to northern France on 8 March 1918 and was killed in action on 25 March during the early stages of the German Army's Spring Offensive, near the village of Favreuil in the Pas-de-Calais. His body was never recovered, despite the efforts of Private Billingham to return him while under fire.

Commemoration

Tull is remembered at the Arras Memorial, Bay 7, for those who have no known grave. He fought in six battles: Battle of Ancre, November 1916 (first Battle of the Somme); Battle of Messines, June 1917; 3rd Battle of Ypres, July–November 1917 (Battle of the Menin Road Ridge); September 1917; Second Battle of the Somme St. Quentin, March 1918; Battle of Bapaume, March 1918.

Legacy

In the history of mixed-heritage footballers in Britain, Tull may be mentioned alongside Robert Walker, Andrew Watson, an amateur, who is credited as the earliest black international football player, winning his first cap for Scotland in 1881, Arthur Wharton, a goalkeeper for Darlington, Preston North End, Rotherham United, Stalybridge Rovers, Ashton North End and Stockport County who became the first mixed-heritage professional in 1889, John Walker, the Anglo-Indian Cother brothers at Watford, W.G. Clarke (Aston Villa) and his brother Edward who played for Ayr Parkhouse and Girvan Athletic. (For more information on the history of players of colour in Britain see Phil Vasili, Colouring Over the White Line, Edinburgh, Mainstream 2000).

Campaigners have called for a statue to be erected in his honour at Dover, and Northampton South MP Brian Binley and Phil Vasili, has begun campaigning for Tull to be posthumously awarded the Military Cross. However, as the Military Cross was not authorized to be awarded posthumously until 1979, and the change did not include any provision for retrospective awards, this would not be possible without a complete change in the rules for awarding that medal. Campaigners feel this would be justified given that the army broke the rules in their favour in allowing Tull a commission at a time when, after the end of the Battle of the Somme in November 1916, the army was desperately short of officers. It therefore suited the needs of the army for Tull to be commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant. Unfortunately, when the recommendation for his Military Cross was considered at elite level, his 'illegal' status as an officer of non-European descent meant to award him the honour would validate his status, leading to more mixed-heritage officers being commissioned, something the Army Council continued to resist to the end of the war. Seen in this context, Tull was a victim of his own success as a well respected and efficient but unique mixed-heritage officer. Campaigners argue a unique precedent was set in making Tull an officer but natural justice denied when he was rejected for the MC because of his illegal status as a mixed-heritage officer. A unique precedent should now be made in his favour, they suggest, to balance the scales of justice.

Memorial

On Sunday 11 July 1999, Northampton Town F.C. unveiled a memorial to Walter in a dedicated Garden of Remembrance at Sixfields Stadium. The epitaph, written by Phil Vasili, the author of Colouring Over the White Line: History of Black Footballers in Britain and Walter Tull, 1888–1918, Officer, Footballer, reads:

Through his actions, 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.

The road that runs behind the North Stand (The Dave Bowen Stand) at Sixfields Stadium is named Walter Tull Way.

In 2004, Tottenham Hotspur and Rangers contested the "Walter Tull Memorial Cup". Rangers won the Cup after defeating Spurs 2–0 with goals from Dado Pršo and Nacho Novo on 28 July.

On 8 January 2009, plans were announced in the media to construct a statue in Tull's memory outside the proposed new Tottenham Hotspur ground. Early backers of an online petition included Lynne Featherstone, MP for Hornsey and Wood Green.

As of 29 June 2010, plans to erect a bronze memorial statue of Tull in the Geraldine Mary Harmsworth Park, which lies within the grounds of the Imperial War Museum, had reached the stage of formal consultation with local residents. Permission for the statue was later refused by Southwark council.

On 21 October 2014, a blue plaque was unveiled at 77 Northumberland Park, London N17, on the site of the former house where Tull lived before the war, close to the White Hart Lane ground. The plaque was provided by the Nubian Jak Community Trust and was unveiled by former Spurs striker Garth Crooks who described Tull as an "amazing man," whose recognition had been " a long time coming".

Media

The definitive biography 'Walter Tull, 1888–1918, Officer, Footballer. "All the guns in France couldn't wake me" ' Phil Vasili was published by Raw Press, 2009.

Plans are under way to make a film about the life of Walter Tull, with a screenplay written by Phil Vasili, based upon his biography Walter Tull, 1888–1918, Officer, Footballer, optioned by Artful Films. www.artfulfilms.co

Phil Vasili's play Tull, directed by David Thacker, had a successful 3 week run at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton, February–March 2013. and was adapted by Tottenham Theatre and staged in July 2014 at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Tottenham.

Walter's War, a drama about the life of Walter Tull, starring O. T. Fagbenle and written by Kwame Kwei-Armah, was made by UK channel BBC Four and screened on 9 November 2008 as part of the BBC's Ninety Years of Remembrance season. It drew 406,000 viewers and was the third most watched programme on BBC4 during the week ending 9 November 2008. The drama was aired alongside Forgotten Hero, a documentary about Tull and had the highest viewing figures for a documentary in the week it was aired. It received excellent reviews and was recommended for numerous awards but received none. It was repeated on just two occasions.

Two films have been made for Teachers TV focusing on teaching about Walter Tull, and were launched in May 2008.

Respect! a factual account of the life of Walter Tull written for young people by Michaela Morgan was published by Barrington Stoke in 2005. The book was shortlisted in the Birmingham Libraries young readers' book festival May 2008.

A book about Tull for young readers, Walter Tull: Footballer, Soldier, Hero, written by Dan Lyndon, was published by Collins Educational in January 2011.

A Medal for Leroy (2012) by Michael Morpurgo is inspired by the life of Tull.

In 2014, Gazebo Theatre, based in Bilston Town Hall, toured a play about the life of Walter Tull, entitled The Hallowed Turf. It was presented in Wolverhampton on 3 October to launch the city's Black History Month.