Walter Tull

Walter Daniel John Tull (28 April 1888 – 25 March 1918) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward for Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton Town. He was the second person of Afro-Caribbean/mixed heritage to play in the top division of the Football League, the first Afro-Caribbean/mixed heritage outfield player in the top division of English football, and the first to be commissioned as an infantry officer in the British Army. His professional football career began after he was spotted whilst playing for his local amateur club, Clapton FC. He began playing for Clapton FC in 1908 and within a few months he had won winners' medals in the FA Amateur Cup, London County Amateur Cup and London Senior Cup. In March 1909 the Football Star called him 'the catch of the season'.

Walter Tull was brought up in a National Children's Home orphanage in Bethnal Green, London, along with his brother, following the death of their parents. He joined Tottenham in 1909, and transferred to Northampton Town in 1911, where he made 111 first-team appearances.

During the First World War, Tull served in the Footballers' Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, and fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 30 May 1917 despite the 1914 Manual of Military Law specifically excluding "Negroes"/"Mulattos" from exercising command as officers. Tull fought in Italy in 1917–18, and was Mentioned in Despatches for "gallantry and coolness" while leading his company of 26 men on a raiding party into enemy territory. He returned to France in 1918, and was killed in action on 25 March during the Spring Offensive; his body was never recovered.

Campaigners have called for a statue to be erected in his honour, and Northampton South MP Brian Binley has campaigned for Tull to be posthumously awarded the Military Cross.

Early life
Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent, the son of Barbadian carpenter Daniel Tull and Kent-born Alice Elizabeth Palmer. His grandmother was a slave in Barbados. Despite being of mixed heritage, he was referred to as 'black'. He began his education in what is now Mundella Primary School. Following the deaths of his parents, his mother Alice dying in 1895 and his father Daniel in 1897, he was brought up in a National Children's Home orphanage in Bethnal Green with his brother Edward. Edward was adopted by the Warnock family of Glasgow, and qualified as a dentist, the first black/mixed heritage person to practise this profession in the United Kingdom.

Football career
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 black/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 second mixed heritage player to play in the top division after goalkeeper Arthur Wharton of Darlington, but only made 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 wearing the number 9 shirt, and made in all 111 first-team appearances and nine goals for the club. He lived in Rushden and at one time at 26 Queen Street. When war broke out Tull enlisted in the army, in December 1914, the first Northampton Town player to do so. It was reported in the Glasgow Evening Times in 1940, in an article about Tull being the first black infantry officer in the British Army, that he had signed to play for Rangers once the war was over.

First World War
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 Second Lieutenant on 30 May 1917 (still in the Middlesex Regiment), he became the first black/mixed race combat officer in the British Army, despite the 1914 Manual of Military Law specifically excluding Negroes/Mulattos from exercising actual command as officers. (Though Nathaniel Wells, the son of a white plantation owner and a black slave, received a Yeomanry commission in 1818 ). Tull's superior officers recommended him for a commission regardless. Tull fought in Italy in 1917/18 and was cited for his for "gallantry and coolness" by Major General Sydney Lawford, commander of the 41st division, having led his company of 26 men on a night raiding party, crossing the fast-flowing rapids of the River Piave into enemy territory and returning them unharmed. Soon after was recommended for a Military Cross. He returned to northern France in 1918, and was killed in action on 25 March during the 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.

Walter Tull is remembered at the Arras Memorial, Bay 7, for those who have no known grave. He fought in six major battles: Battle of Ancre, November 1916 (first Battle of the Somme); Battle of Messines, June 1917; 3rd Battle of Ypres, July–August 1917 (Passchendaele, Menin Road Ridge); September 1917; Second Battle of the Somme, St.Quentin, March 1918; Battle of Bapaume, March 1918 (2nd Somme).

Legacy
In the history of black/mixed heritage footballers in Britain, Tull may be mentioned alongside Arthur Wharton, a goalkeeper for Darlington and Rotherham United who became the first black/mixed heritage professional in 1889, and Andrew Watson, an amateur, who is credited as the earliest black international football player, winning his first cap for Scotland in 1881.

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.

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 (ISBN 1-84018-296-2) and Walter Tull, 1888–1918, Officer, Footballer. All the guns in France couldn't wake me, (London: Raw Press 2009) (isbn 9780956395405) 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 which 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 memory of Walter Tull 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 Walter 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.

Media
Plans are under way to make a film about the life of Walter Tull with a screenplay written by Phil Vasili optioned by Araguaya Films based upon his biography ''Walter Tull, 1888–1918, Officer, Footballer. All the guns in France couldn't wake me''

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 program on BBC4 during w/e 9 November 2008.

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