Walter Tull -- UK

Walter Daniel John Tull was an English professional footballer and Army infantry officer.  He was one of the earliest professional African-Caribbean players.  Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent, England on April 28, 1888, the son of a carpenter, Daniel, from Barbados and his English wife, Elizabeth.

Following the death of their parents, Tull and his brother were raised in a National Children's Home orphanage in Bethnal Green, London.  He joined Tottenham in 1909, and transferred to Northampton Town in 1911, where he made 111 first-team appearances. 

He was the first African-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 brother Edward qualified as a dentist, the first black/mixed heritage person to practise this profession in the United Kingdom.

In 1909 Tull was signed to Tottenham Hotspur, a first division football team, for a £10 signing fee and a salary of £4 per week.  He made twenty appearances for the side before the racist chants from both the opposing and supporting fans drove the managers of the Tottenham Hotspur to offer him to the Northampton Town.  He made 111 appearances For Northampton until the outbreak of the First World War.

In December 1914 Tull enlisted in the 17th Battalion of the Middlesex regiment. He had agreed to play for Glasgow Rangers when the war was over.  In the army he rose swiftly from private to sergeant. In November 1916 he took part in the Battle of Ancre, the last futile allied effort of the 1st Battle of the Somme.

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.  He then took part in the Battle of Messines in June 1917 on the Western Front, a prelude to the 3rd Battle of Ypres in which Tull also took a front line role.  Tull’s division was transferred along with five other divisions to the Italian Front in December 1917 where, at the Battle of the River Piave in northern Italy, Tull was mentioned in dispatches and recommended for the Military Cross for a successful raid into enemy territory.  Lieutenant Tull never received the award as He and his men were transferred back to the Western Front for the German Spring offensive of 1918.  He fought at the 2nd Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Bapaume, Tull was killed in action on March 25th 1918, His body was never recovered.

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

Walter Tull is remembered at the Arras Memorial, Bay 7, for those who have no known grave.  

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. 

On the 11 July 1999, Northampton Town F.C. unveiled a memorial to Walter it reads

“Through his actions, Tull ridiculed the barriers of ignorance that tried to deny negroes/mulattos 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 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, All the guns in France couldn't wake me.

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 

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. 

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

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. 

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.