Walter Tull

Infobox Person
name = Walter Tull


image_size =
caption =
birth_name = Walter Daniel John Tull
birth_date = 28 April 1888
birth_place = flagicon|UK Folkestone, Kent, England, UK
death_date = 25 March 1918 (aged 29)
death_place = flagicon|France Pas De Calais, France
nationality = Barbadian British
parents = Daniel Tull (father)
Alice Palmer (mother)

Walter Daniel John Tull (28 April 1888 - 25 March 1918). Tull was the first black outfield player in the top division of the Football League, and the first black infantry officer in the British Army.

Life

Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent, the son of Bajan carpenter Daniel Tull and a local woman Alice Palmer. He begun his education in what is now Mundella Primary School. [cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/articles/2008/02/20/walter_tull_feature.shtml|title=The Extraordinary Life of Walter Tull|accessdate=2008-06-13|publisher=BBC] [cite web|url=http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/walter_tull.html|title=100 Great Black Britons — Walter Tull|accessdate=2008-06-13|publisher=100 Great Black Britons] Following the death of his parents he was brought up in a National Children's Home orphanage in Bethnal Green with his brother Edward. He signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1909,after a close season tour of Argentina and Uruguay, making him the first black professional footballer to play in Latin America. He made his debut for Tottenham in September 1909 at inside forward against Sunderland but only made seven first-team appearances 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. [ [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/16/nguard116.xml Call to honour black Army hero - Telegraph ] at www.telegraph.co.uk] Further appearances in the first team were recorded before Tull was bought by Herbert Chapman's Northampton Town in October 1911 for a "substantial fee". [cite web|url=https://lra.le.ac.uk/handle/2381/3334|title="Racism and Anti-Racism in Football"|last=Garland|first=Jon|pages=32|accessdate=2001-05-10|publisher=Plagrave] Tull made 110 first-team appearances for the club. When war broke out Tull enlisted in the army, in December 1914, the first Northampton town player to do so. It was reported in newspapers that Tull had signed to play for Rangers once the war was over.

During the First World War Tull served in both Footballers' Battalions of the Middlesex Regiment, 17th and 23rd, rising to the rank of sergeant and fighting in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. When Tull was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in May 1917 he became the first black combat officer in the British Army; this was unprecedented at the time as the 1914 Manual of Military Law specifically excluded Negroes from exercising actual control as officers. Despite this, Tull's superior officers recommended him. Tull fought in Italy in 1917/18, and was mentioned in dispatches by Major General Sydney Lawford for 'gallantry and coolness' while leading his company of 26 men on a raiding party, to cross the fast-flowing rapids of the River Piave into enemy territory. For bringing his men back unharmed Tull was recommended for a Military Cross. He returned to northern France in 1918, and was killed in action on 25 March during the last German offensive of the First World War, 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; Ancre, November 1916 (first Battle of the Somme); Messines, June 1917; 3rd Ypres, July- August 1917(Passchendaele); Menin Road Bridge, September 1917; St.Quentin, March 1918(2nd Somme); Bapaume, March 1918(2nd Somme)

In the history of black footballers in Britain, Tull may be mentioned alongside Arthur Wharton, a goalkeeper for Rotherham United F.C., who became the first black 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.

Legacy

Plans are under way to make a film about the life of Walter Tull [cite web|url=http://www.vasili.co.uk/|title=History of Black Footballers in Britain|accessdate=2008-06-13|publisher=Phil Vasili] [cite web|url=http://www.followfollow.com/news/loadnews.asp?cid=TMNW&id=285963|title=Film being produced about Walter Tull's life|accessdate=2006-06-21|publisher=Follow Follow] [cite web|url=http://www.thecnj.com/review/060106/feat060106_01.htm|title=Walter the first Black officer and footballer|accessdate=2008-06-13|publisher=Camden New Journal] and campaigners are calling for a statue to be erected in his honour at Dover. [cite news|first=David|last=Sapsted|title=Call to Honour Black Army hero|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1548709/Call-to-honour-black-Army-hero.html|publisher=The Telegraph|date=2008-06-13|accessdate=2007-04-17] Two films have been made for Teachers TV focusing on teaching about Walter Tull, and were launched in May 2008. [cite web|url=http://www.teachers.tv/video/26626|title=Walter Tull - Race, Football and Black Britain 1909|accessdate=2008-04-30|publisher=Teachers' TV] [cite web|url=http://www.teachers.tv/video/26634|title=Walter Tull - the Pupils' Perspective|accessdate=2008-04-30|publisher=Teachers' TV] 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 Prso and Nacho Novo on the 28th of July. cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/3934957.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=Rangers see off sorry Spurs|date=28 July 2004]

Northampton South MP, Brian Binley has begun campaigning for Tull to be awarded the Military Cross posthumously. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/northamptonshire/7468783.stm Medal campaign for black pioneer] Retrieved June 24 2008]

"Respect !" A book on the life of Walter Tull written for young people by Michaela Morgan. Published by Barrington Stoke 2005 ISBN 9781842993378. The book was shortlisted in the Birmingham Libraries young readers book festival May 2008. [ [http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/GenerateContent?CONTENT_ITEM_ID=125730&CONTENT_ITEM_TYPE=0&MENU_ID=13482 Birmingham libraries book festival 2008] July 30 2008] [ [http://www.highlandschools-virtualib.org.uk/keep_reading/respect.htm "Respect!"] Retrieved July 30 2008]

Memorial

On Sunday July 11 1999 Northampton Town F.C unveiled a memorial to Walter in a dedicated Garden of Remembrance at Sixfields Stadium. The epitath inscribed there "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 words were written by Phil Vasili author of "Colouring Over the White Line:History Of Black Footballers in Britain".(ISBN 1-84018-296-2)

References

"Respect!" by Michaela Morgan. Barrington Stoke 2005. ISBN 9791842993378 [http://www.barringtonstoke.co.uk/search.asp]

External links

* [http://www.itvlocal.com/anglia/history/?player=ANG_LocalHistory_15&void=205290 News story on ITV Local]
* [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ntfc/tull.htm Guardian article March 25, 1998]
* [http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/walter_tull.html 100 Great Black Britons]
* [http://web.ukonline.co.uk/ntfc/tull2.htm Memorial Garden at Sixfields Stadium, Northampton]
* [http://www.blackhistory4schools.com/20century/ For teaching material about Walter Tull, produced for Northamptonshire Black History Association, www.blackhistory4schools.com]
* [http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/sports/political+football+walter+tull/762667 Channel 4 News: The Walter Tull story]
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWtull.htm Article on Spartacus Educational]
* [http://www.doverwarmemorialproject.org.uk/Information/Articles/Heroes/TullWDJ.htm The Dover War Memorial Project]
* [http://www.untoldlondon.org.uk/news/ART54205.html Heritage Lottery Fund Project(HLF) to tell story of the remarkable life of the man who became both the first black British professional outfield footballer and the first black officer in the British Army is to be told thanks to a £49,900 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF)]