THE  DOVER WAR MEMORIAL  PROJECT

Articles

Walter Tull

"FIRST BLACK ARMY OFFICER, FOOTBALLER, AND GREAT WAR HERO"
by Marilyn Stephenson-Knight

Walter Daniel John Tull was the son of Daniel Tull from Barbados. Descended from slaves, Walter became the first black combat officer in the British army. As also the first coloured outfield professional footballer he is claimed with pride as one of Folkestone’s famous sons. But was he? Or was Walter Tull actually a Dovorian? 

Walter became a 2^nd Lieutenant during the Great War. In March 1918, a month before his 30^th birthday, he was killed during an advance on Favreuil, France. So well-liked was he in command that his men attempted under heavy fire to recover his body for burial. But it was impossible. Like 35,000 others who died in the region and have no known grave, Walter is commemorated on the Arras Memorial.  

He is named too on the war memorial at the top of the Road of Remembrance in Folkestone, where so many soldiers marched down the hill to embark for France. Walter’s name was placed there by his old school teacher. Mr Murray had remembered his pupil for over twenty years, for by the time Walter was nine both his parents were dead, and he and one of his brothers, Edward, had been sent to an orphanage in London.  

But Walter is remembered in Dover as well. His name is on the Town War Memorial outside the Town Council Offices at Maison Dieu House. Why? And why does he also appear on the memorial at River? 

Using many sources I gradually found an answer. One of Walter’s grandmothers was born in Folkestone. But she spent most of her life in Hougham, Dover, with her farm worker husband. He came from the village, and their daughter Alice Palmer, Walter’s mother, was born in March 1853 at Elms Farm. It’s at the extreme end of Elms Vale Road in Dover, and is well known to us older residents as the “Conker Pond”. We used to ride our bikes along the lanes up there – and by a strange twist of coincidence, it’s the place where I spent many happy childhood years learning to milk cows, bring in the harvest, and collect eggs hidden in hay lofts.  

Perhaps Alice did the same before she joined her carpenter husband Daniel in Folkestone. But there she settled to motherhood, with several children. The last child born to the couple was Elsie. In 1895, when Elsie was three, Alice died and the family was left motherless. Just over a year later Daniel married again. His bride was Clara Palmer. Born at Farthingloe in 1870 she was another Dover girl. She was also Alice’s niece.   

The marriage was short. In December 1897 Clara was widowed. Left with her aunt’s children and her own baby daughter Miriam to care for, Clara was unable to manage. The family was split up. But the two youngest children, Miriam and Elsie, remained with her. When she married again in 1899, they settled with Clara and her new husband William Beer just outside Dover in Coldred.  

By 1912 the family had moved closer to Dover town, returning to William’s birthplace. From their new home near Whitfield Hill Elsie, in 1920, and Miriam, in 1924, were married in the Parish Church in River. Walter was sent back to England in 1916 to convalesce from war trauma.  Disembarking at Folkestone he probably visited the family in Kearsney before returning fight on the Somme. He saw his sisters again in 1917, just before gaining his ground-breaking commission.  

This then is why Walter Tull, star for Tottenham Hotspurs and Northampton, officer of the Middlesex regiment, was commemorated in Dover. For despite his parents’ death and family separation, Walter’s new family in Dover remained in touch. Ever in their thoughts they ensured that in 1921 his name was inscribed on their Parish Memorial at River, and in 1924 on the Dover Town Memorial.  

Walter Tull’s careers in football and in the army were illustrious. In recent years much has been made of his overseas heritage, for he succeeded when prejudice was strong. He overcame racism to become a great footballer, and he overturned regulations forbidding non-whites from becoming officers. But what seemed previously unknown is that Walter’s heritage was also from Dover. His mother was Dovorian and his new family lived in Dover. The card on the wreath laid at the unveiling of the River memorial read “From Mum and Dad, Elsie and Miriam”. Walter Tull is the embodiment of equality. His roots lie in Barbados – and in Dover.  

When we watched the recent World Cup, we saw many banners emblazoned “Football Against Racism”. As a pioneer Walter Tull is an icon. In 1999, at Northampton football stadium, a memorial to him was unveiled. There’s even a trophy named after him.  

Walter Tull broke the mould in the forces too.  Mentioned in dispatches for gallantry he disproved the prejudice that coloured people were unfit for command. Popular and brave, he was faithful to the end. Shoulder to shoulder with his fellows he gave his life for his country.  

Martin Luther King had a dream – but Walter Daniel John Tull dreamt it first. Dover can be proud.

This article (without these pictures) first appeared in the Dover Express, p10, 17th August 2006

Pictures:
Walter Tull, from the Memorial Plaque at Northampton Football Stadium
Road sign outside Northampton Football Stadium
The Memorial at Northampton Football Stadium
The Memorial Plaque at Northampton Football Stadium

William Tull, Walter's older brother, also lies in a war grave. He was a Sapper in the Royal Engineers, and died on 12th March 1920, aged 37. He left a widow, Gertrude Mary Tull, from 59 Greenfield Road, Folkestone. He is buried at Cheriton, Folkestone

At the bottom of his headstone are the words, "Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away"l

all pictures Simon John Chambers