A Pioneer twice over
Walter Tull was born in Folkestone in Kent on 28th April 1888. His father was Daniel Tull who arrived in England in 1876 and settled in the Folkestone area in Kent. Daniel’s own father had been born as an enslaved man in Barbados. Daniel married a local white lady, Alice Palmer, who he met through church. They had six children together and Walter, born on 28th April 1888, was their fifth.
Tragedy struck the family in 1895 when Walter’s mother died. Walter was just seven years old. Walter’s father re-married, Clara Palmer, and in 1897 a daughter, Miriam, was born. But just two months after Miriam’s birth Daniel also died. At only nine years old both Walter’s parents were dead.
Walter’s step mother was left with six children (one child had died) to raise on her own. She was unable to cope and so she had little choice but to send Walter and his brother Edward to a children’s home in the East End of London. Walter suffered another blow when his brother was adopted by a family who lived in Glasgow, Scotland. The family could only adopt one of the boys and Walter was left behind.
Walter found some comfort in sport and played cricket as well as football. He was particularly good at football and in 1908, aged 20, he was given a trial by local team, Clapton FC. He quickly impressed and made his first team debut for them on 26th December 1908. Clapton went on to win three trophies that season and Walter, described as ‘our dusky friend,’ was ‘without doubt Clapton’s catch of the season.’
Walter’s time with Clapton didn’t last long. He was offered a trial by Tottenham Hotspur (‘Spurs’) and went with them on a pre-season tour to Argentina. This was Walter’s first trip abroad. Returning to England he made his debut in an away game at Sunderland on 1st September 1909 in front of a crowd of around 10,000.
There is no doubt that Walter was routinely abused by the fans of opposing teams for being a ‘darkie’ but the abuse was particularly bad during an away game at Bristol City on 2nd October 1909 in front of a crowd estimated at 20,000. The abuse was so bad that, very unusually, a reporter felt he had to detail it in his match report. Bristol was one of the British cities that had played an important role in the slave trade, a trade that had flourished for [two hundred] years and made Bristol wealthy. When Walter played there, slavery had been abolished in the British colonies less than eighty years earlier.
It seems likely that the Tottenham management were uncomfortable about having Walter in the team because of the abuse directed at him and so, in spite of the fact he was recognised as a good player, in October 1911 they sold him to a Southern League club, Northampton Town. During his time with Spurs he made ten appearances and scored two goals.
Walter was a great success at Northampton and over the three seasons he spent with them he played 111 games and scored nine goals. In 1914 he was on the brink of a dream move to Glasgow Rangers when World War One broke out. A move to Glasgow would have re-united Walter with his much loved Brother, Edward.
Walter quickly volunteered to serve his country and he was enlisted into the Footballers’ Battalion on the Middlesex Regiment where he would serve alongside other professional footballers. In 1916 Walter suffered from ‘acute mania’ (also known as ‘shell shock’ or today as ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’) brought on by the dreadful experiences he endured and was sent back to England. Tens of thousands of soldiers suffered from ‘shell shock’ during the war. Walter recovered sufficiently to return to France and in October 1916 he took part in one of the most deadly battle of the whole war, the Bottle of the Somme. He survived.
Then something remarkable happened. Walter was promoted to the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. This was remarkable because Army Regulations at the time were very clear, you had to be of ‘pure European descent’ to be an officer. This was a polite way of saying that black people could not be officers. Walter had shown such courage and such leadership qualities that the Army decided to ignore their own rules. There had been a handful of black officers before him but, as far as we know, he was the first to command white soldiers in battle in an infantry battalion.
Walter returned to France in August 1917 in time to lead his men in the Battle of Passchendaele, almost as bloody as the Battle of the Somme. Walter again survived but his luck ran out on 25th March 1918 when he was killed trying to hold back a big German advance known as ‘the Spring Offensive.’ Walter’s men tried to recover his body under heavy fire but were beaten back.
His name is recorded along with thousands of others on the War Memorial at Arras in France near to where he died but he does not have an individual grave as his body was never found. His senior officers recommended him for a Military Cross in recognition of his bravery but it was never awarded. Many people believe the medal was withheld because Walter was black.
Not many men get to be a pioneer, Walter achieved it twice, as a footballer and as an Army Officer.