Lieutenant Walter Tull (1888-1918)
Walter Tull was born in Kent; one of six children. He was a talented footballer and played for Tottenham Hotspur and
Northampton Town. In 1914, he enlisted with 17th (1st) Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment and fought in World War
One, and in 1916 he was promoted to the rank of Sergeant.
In December 1916, he returned home due to trench fever. Once he had recovered, he was sent to the officer training school at Gailes, Scotland, and became the first black Army officer. Lieutenant Walter Tull was commissioned and sent to the Italian Front in May 1917. He led his men in the Battle of Piave and was mentioned in dispatches for his “gallantry and coolness under fire”. In 1918, he was transferred to France and was killed in the last Battle of the Somme. Walter Tull is commemorated with honour on the Arras Memorial in France. In 1998 the Walter Tull Memorial Garden was opened next to Northampton Town’s Sixfields Community Stadium.
the Tottenham Hotspur Football Team for the season 1911-1912. One of Britain’s first black professional footballers, Walter Tull, is seated second from right, in the second row from the front.
Courtesy of: Bruce Castle Museum, Haringey (Idbcm2002.128 and Idbcm2002.129)
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 Walter Tull and fellow soldiers
Courtesy of: Reverend Duncan Finlayson and Family
Photograph of Walter Tull when he played for Tottenham Hotspur
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