Walter Tull as a baby
1. Born 1888
2. In Folkestone, Kent
3. Mother, the daughter of a farm labourer from Kent – Alice Palmer.
4. Father, from Barbados. Daniel Tull.
5. Father, a carpenter.
6. Grandparents were both born slaves.
Walter Tull as a child
1. Oldest brother was William; Edward, another brother, two years older than Walter. An older sister, Cecilia (Cissy); a baby sister, Elsie; the biggest sister would have been Bertha, but she died when she was a baby.
2. Walter’s mum died two weeks before his 7th birthday.
3. Home address: 57 Walton Street, Hythe, Folkestone, Kent.
4. Walter’s school was North Board School in Black Bull Road just nearby.
5. Aunty Clara came in to help when mother died and then married Daniel. Miriam was born.
6. Very crowded house – all the boys slept in one bed and all the girls in another.
7. Dad died of a heart attack on 10th December 1897.
8. Clara couldn’t cope financially but contacts in the Methodist Church found them Eddie and Walter places at Bonner Road Children’s Home in Hackney.
9. Eddie was adopted by a family in Scotland in 1900 – Walter was left on his own in the orphanage of some 320 children.
Walter Tull after leaving the orphanage
1. Moved into a church hostel and then found lodgings.
2. Training to be a printer.
3. Very good at cricket and football. Persuaded to write a letter to Clapton FC asking for a trial (one of the best amateur teams).
4. Makes the team, 1908-09 and they win loads of London cups.
5. Spurs ask him to sign on as a professional.
WALTER TULL, THE FOOTBALLER
1. Spotted by Clapton FC in East London and Clapton signed Walter on as an amateur player. Unpaid – but Clapton are one of the best amateur teams in the country and pretty well win all of London’s cups.
2. He was so impressive that Spurs (Tottenham Hotspur) signed him on with a transfer (1909, aged 20).
3. He played well until he suffered awful racial abuse when playing for Spurs at Bristol City. A reporter commented that ‘Tull is the Hotspurs’ most brainy forward. Candidly, he has much to contend with on account of his colour. His tactics were absolutely beyond reproach, but he became the butt of the ignorant … a section of the spectators made a cowardly attack on him in language … Let me tell the Bristol hooligans … that Tull is so clean in mind and method as to be a model for all white men who play football. Tull was the best forward on the field.’
4. That affected his form and he was transferred to Northampton Town (1911). He played over 100 times for this top team and scored 4 goals in one match. The mighty Glasgow Rangers wanted to sign him – that would have taken Walter closer to his brother, Eddie.
Walter Tull in the Army
1. He left Northampton and joined the army just after the war started.
2. This shows how patriotic he was.
3. He joined the Footballers Battalion: the 17th Middlesex Regiment. Private Walter Tull.
4. He was such a good soldier that he quickly got promotion. Three times.
5. In 1916, he was sent home to hospital from the trenches with shell shock. He returned to France later in the year.
6. He became a sergeant.
7. He was such a good sergeant that he was made an officer in 1917.
8. The rule book was torn up so that Walter could become an officer. Not only was he working class (only posh upper class men became officers then) but he was of mixed-race. The rules said that only men who were of ‘pure European descent’ (only white men) could become officers.
9. But Walter was so brilliant that they changed the rules.
10.He was very courageous and brave. He looked after his men and they trusted him. He was recommended for the Military Cross … but he wasn’t given it. Why do you think? … Racism?
11.When he was killed his men looked up to him so much that they risked their lives in No Man’s Land to try and find his body to bring it back for a burial. Three times.
12.But his body was never found. His name is remembered on a memorial at Arras in France.
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