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 ever Black infantry officer in the British Army.
Walter Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent, the son of Daniel Tull a carpenter who had emigrated from Barbados and a local woman Alice Palmer. Following the death of his parents he was brought up in an 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. He made some more first-team appearances before being sold to Northampton Town in October 1911, where he 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 23rds, 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. Tull fought in Italy in 1917/18, and was mentioned in dispatches for leading a raiding party 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(Passchendale);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.
Walter Tull
Walter Tull, the son of joiner, was born in Folkestone in April 1888. Walter's father, the son of a slave, had arrived from Barbados in 1876 and had married a girl from Kent.
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Walter Tull - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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 ever Black infantry officer in the British ...
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