CROSSING THE WHITE LINE:

THE WALTER TULL STORY

written by Peter Daniel

research by Phil Vasili
design by Camilla Bergman
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Written by Peter Daniel

Original research Phil Vasili
Illustrations Ted Smith-Orr
Front cover mural Jonathan Boast
Design Camilla Bergman

Westminster Archives is proud to present the life story

of Walter Tull, which would not have been possible
without the £49,900 grant we recieved from the
Heritage Lottery Fund. As an organisation we are
committed to celebrating diversity and this funding has
allowed us to bring the story of a Great Black Briton
to the wider audience it deserves. We would also like
to acknowledge the help of Tull biographer Phil Vasili.
Without Phil’s tireless years of research on the Tull story
this project would not have been possible.

We extend our thanks and gratitude to Marilyn

Stephenson-Knight from The Dover War Memorial
Project, whose energy and enthusiasm helped bring the
project to Folkestone, the Finlayson family for their
generosity in allowing us to use their collection and a
special thanks to all the staff who worked with us from
NCH (National Children’s Homes), The Methodist Central
Hall, The National Army Museum, The National Football
Museum, Glasgow Rangers, Crabble Corn Mill, students
from CAPA and also to the PFA for supporting this
project.

All rights reserved. None of the archive images

contained in this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the permission of the
publisher.
The learning activities featured in the Crossing the
White Line: The Walter Tull Activity Pack may be
duplicated for educational purposes only.

www.crossingthewhiteline.com
www.crossingthewhiteline.com
INTRODUCTION
W alter Tull was one of England’s first black professional
footballers and also the first black combat Officer
in the British Army. Walter’s story can be told thanks to
a £49,900 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF),
which has been used by Westminster Archives to mark
the 90th anniversary of his death on the Western Front.
More details of the project are available from www.
crossingthewhiteline.com.
This story booklet is designed to be used to compliment
a KS2 teaching pack based around History Unit 20:
What can we learn about recent history from studying
about the life of a famous person? (Walter Tull).
Both resources are available to download from www.
crossingthewhiteline.com.
Walter was born in Folkestone in April, 1888, to a
father from Barbados and a mother from Folkestone,
Kent. Sadly both his parents died by the time Walter
was 9 years old and he was placed in a Methodist-run
orphanage in Bethnal Green, East London. Walter was
a keen footballer and in 1908 he was signed up for a
local amateur side, Clapton FC. He was later spotted
by Tottenham Hotspur and signed professionally in
1909. His performances were greatly applauded in the
press, one newspaper commenting that he was in “a class
superior to that shown by most of his colleagues.” Walter
subsequently left Spurs and played more than 100 matches
for Northampton Town.
When the First World War broke out he abandoned the
football pitch and joined the Football Battalion. He was
quickly promoted to Sergeant and fought in the Battle of
the Somme in 1916. Despite military regulations forbidding
people of colour being commissioned as officers he was
promoted to Lieutenant in 1917.
Walter led his men, at the Battle of Piave on the Italian
Front, through extreme weather conditions and brought his
troops back safetly without a single casualty. Walter was
mentioned in dispatches for his “gallantry and coolness
under fire.” He was recommended for a Military Cross,
which he never received.
Tragically, at the age of 29, Walter met his death trying to
lead his men to safety whilst under German attack on the
Western Front in March, 1918. Several of his men made
unsuccessful attempts to bring him back to the British
trenches and his body was never recovered.
I am confident that Walter’s story will inspire children and
adults for generations to come.

Peter Daniel
Education and Interpretation Officer
City of Westminster Archives
1918 Soldier
Tull could see the Germans had broken through,
So in retreat he led his frightened men,
Who realised their chances now were few,
Of getting back to their own lines again.

As shells and bullets screamed their mean intent,

Walter’s life seemed to flash before his eyes,
A grand drama began in Folkestone, Kent,
Takes one more final curtain here and dies.

O n March 21st, 1918, the Germans made one

last desperate effort to win World War One.
Walter Tull was a 29 year old 2nd Lieutenant in the
Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment when
he found himself in the British trenches at Favreuil
facing the Germans as they advanced.

Walter Tull in his Officer uniform.

Phil Vasili Soldiers heading into ‘no man’s land’.
National Army Museum

42
1918 Soldier
As lines of bullets zipped above his head,
He hoped and prayed that they would pass him by,
But from amongst that deadly shower of lead,
A shot struck him and passed out near his eye.

As the thunder of the guns died in dark,

He felt his mind begin to drift away,
To a painful time which had left its mark,
His father’s death, a sad and tragic day

O n the 25th March, 1918, Walter was

hit by machine gun fire as he tried
to lead his men in retreat before the
German advance. Former Leicester
goalkeeper Private Tom Billingham stayed
with Walter in the two minutes it took
for him to die. Billingham did his best to
recover Walter’s body but had to leave
him as the Germans advanced. Walter’s
body was never found and he is one of
thousands of soldiers from World War One Telegram sent to Walter’s
who have no known grave. brother, Edward, consoling him after Walter’s
death. National Archives

Germans advancing toward British lines in March, 1918.

Northampton Independant Newspaper article describing
National Army Museum
how Walter died. Phil Vasili

3
1888-97 C h il d h oo d
He saw his arms around his brother wound,
On a cold, wintry scene from long ago,
As father’s coffin slid beneath the ground,
To Bethnal Green they knew they had to go.

And then himself a boy at Bonner Road,

Dressed in the colours of their football team,
His reddened eyes the signs of tears they showed,
As Glasgow bound his brother left the scene.

W
The Tull family.
alter Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent, on Phil Vasili
April 28th 1888. He was the grandson of a
slave, son of a Bajan carpenter, and born to a
white English mother. When Walter was 7 years
old his mother, Alice, passed away; two years later
his father, Daniel, also died, leaving behind six
children for Walters’s stepmother, Clara, to look
after. Overwhelmed and unable to support them,
she sent Walter and his brother, Edward, to live
in a Methodist orphanage in Bonner Road, Bethnal
Green, East London. Edward was adopted two
years later by a dentist and his wife from Glasgow.
Edward’s move to Glasgow meant Walter was left
without any family. He joined the orphanage
football team, which helped him cope with his
loneliness.
Dr Stephenson, founder of
Bonner Road Orpanage.
NCH

Walter sits in the front row of the

orphanage football team. Phil Vasili
4
1909 Footballer
Once more he held Clapton’s Amateur Cup,
Their six goal win had been his final game,
For the grand sum of ten pounds he’d signed up,
For mighty Spurs in search of football fame.

South America in nineteen hundred and nine,

Helped him gain the respect of all at Spurs,
Prepared him to cross over the white line,
To face up to every challenge that occurs.

Walter in his Spurs

W hile training to be a printer at the orphanage,

Walter won a trial with Clapton F.C. and was
in the first team in less than 3 months! During
kit. Phil Vasili

the 1908-1909 season he helped lead Clapton to

the Amateur Cup, the London Senior Cup and the
London County Amateur Cup titles. Walter was
quickly noticed by larger clubs and in 1909 he
signed up with Tottenham Hotspur, making him
only the second black professional footballer
in the English top division and the first outfield
player. He played for the north London side during
their tour of Argentina prior to the 1909-10 season
and made his debut at age 21 against Sunderland
in September, 1909. Action picture of Clapton Orient at the time when
Walter Tull played for them. Football Star, Phil Vasili

Tottenham Hotspur in 1911. Walter sits at the far right.

Phil Vasili

Ted Smith-Orr

5
1909 Footballer
THE FIRST BLACK PLAYER SINCE ARTHUR WHARTON,’
‘TULL’S PASSING SKILLS PLAY SUCH A CRUCIAL ROLE,’
Some headlines praised but some would report on,
His Spurs games using names like ‘Darkie’ Tull.

When it all went wrong down at Bristol City,

Where the crowd screamed out their names of racial hate,
He’d needed Spurs support, not their pity,
But what they did was hard to contemplate.

A rthur Wharton, a goal keeper from Ghana, was

the first black professional player in England.
He had been a star with Preston North End and
Sheffield United 20 years before Walter made
his debut. It was not surprising then that Walter
stood out from the other Spurs players. Casual
racism was the norm at the time, with match
reports referring to Walter as ‘darkie’ but things
got out of hand in a game at Bristol in October of
1909. The Football Star described the Bristol City
fans racist language as, ‘lower than Billingsgate’.
Another paper reported ‘a cowardly attack on
him’ by a section of the Bristol City support. A
furious reporter wrote; ‘Let me tell those Bristol
hooligans that Tull is so clean in his mind and
method as to be a model for all white men who
play football.’ Walter being abused by fans at
Bristol City. Ted Smith-Orr

Walter being tackled by

Charlie Roberts during the
1909 Spurs v Manchester Utd
game at White Hart Lane.
Football Star, Phil Vasili

Arthur Wharton, England’s first

black professional football
player, 1888.
Phil Vasili
6
1911 Footballer
Instead of helping him when he was down,
They’d made him leave and join a smaller club,
A lower league side called Northampton Town,
From Spurs this seemed like such an awful snub.

It’d felt like that first day at Bonner Road,

But Boss Chapman had loved him like a son,
And through his skill upon the pitch he showed,
That those thugs who had abused him had not won.

Walter Tull

T he incident at Bristol embarrassed Spurs who

dropped Walter to the sidelines and the reserve
side. Tottenham made no attempt to confront
cigarette card.
Dover War Memorial
Project

the racism that existed at the time and he rarely

made first team appearances following that
terrible day in Bristol. However, his long, tough
years at the orphanage taught him how to behave
when others tried to put him down. In 1911 Walter
was sold for ‘a heavy transfer fee’ to Northampton
Town. Their manager, Herbert Chapman, was
later to become one of the greatest managers
ever at Arsenal F.C. Chapman was a Methodist like
Herbert Chapman,
Walter and had once played for Arthur Wharton at
manager of Northampton
Stalybridge. He did not see Walter’s colour, only Town. Phil Vasili
his skills as a player. Walter played in 110 first
team matches for the side and was arguably their
biggest star. Walter and Chapman certainly proved
Spurs wrong.
Northampton Town
F.C. Walter sits in
the front row, far
right. Phil Vasili

Walter signs for

Northampton Town.
Ted Smith-Orr

7
1914 Soldier
Rangers had just offered a bright future,
When he’d opted to ‘PLAY THE GREATER GAME.’
War put football in a different picture,
Playing on would have only offered shame.

He’d signed up as a Footy Volunteer,

And joined the likes of Vivian Woodward,
He’d wanted to prove that he had no fear,
Of fighting as an English soldier should.

Vivian Woodward.
National Football Museum

W alter was close to a deal that would send

him to Glasgow to play for Rangers when
war broke out. He was on the brink of living
close to his brother Edward again when the world
changed forever. On the 21 December 1914,
Walter volunteered for the Football Battalion;
he viewed enlisting as his responsibility and
duty to his country in a time of great crisis. He
joined other great footballers of the time in the
military, including Vivian Woodward who played
for Tottenham, Chelsea and England. Walter’s
last football match was in the autumn of 1915,
by November he was in France. Walter was sent
to Les Ciseaux, a tiny town he had never heard
of before. He was close to the front lines, so
close that he heard the great guns booming in the
distance as he lay in bed at night.

Attestation Form. National Archives

Recruitment posters
for the Football Battalion. National Army Museum
8
1916 Soldier
The Somme he’d somehow managed to survive,
As his mates fell one after another.
Shell shocked and so lucky to be alive,
He’d been sent to England to recover.

He’d been a Sergeant, one of the lads, when

Returned to France he’d found that they’d all gone,
He’d felt like an orphan once again,
But still did his duty and soldiered on.

W alter saw combat at the end of the Battle of

the Somme between October and November,
1916. This battle saw some 420,000 British
troops killed in a 4 month span. He survived the
ferocious trench warfare only to develop trench
foot and shell shock, resulting in his being sent
back to England to recover. Walter regained
his fitness and returned to France, where he
discovered that his mates had been scattered by
the war. Once again Walter was alone until he
was given leave to return home for Christmas.

Pictures from ‘War Illustrated’

showing soldiers before and
after going over the top.
City of Westminster Archives

National Army Museum

9
1917 Soldier
What his orders told him broke every rule,
‘TULL TO REPORT TO THE GAILES O.T.C.’
‘Back then the Army’s rules said in battle’
Black officers should surely never be.

As the first black Briton to lead in war,

He’d made history fighting in Italy.
Why he’d won no medal he wasn’t sure,
As he’d once been listed for an M.C.

Headline during

A s Walter was preparing to return to the

frontlines in France, he was surprised to
discover that his orders were to go to Scotland
the time Walter
was in Italy.
New York Times
instead. Tull’s superior officers had been so
impressed with him that they had recommended
him to be sent to the Officer Training Corps “I wish to place on record my appreciation
in Gailes, Scotland. This was despite military of your gallantry and coolness. You were
regulations forbidding those who were not of ‘pure one of the first to cross the river prior to
European descent’ from becoming Officers. Tull the raid, and during the raid you took the
received his commission as an Officer in May, 1917, covering party of the main body across
in spite of the fact that it was technically illegal. and brought them back without a casualty
inspite of heavy fire.” Sir Sydney Lawford,
commanding officer
2nd Lieutenant Walter Tull was sent to the Italian
Front and became the first black Officer in the Quoted from Sir Sydney Lawford in the
British Army to lead troops into battle. He led his Northampton Independent, March 16th, 1918.
men at the Battle of Piave and was mentioned in
dispatches for his ‘gallantry and coolness’ under
fire. He twice led his unit across the River Piave
on a raid and both times brought all of his troops
back safetly with out a single casualty. Major
General Sir Sydney Lawford, his Commanding
Officer, sent back a report about the battle that
singled Walter out for outstanding courage and
leadership abilities. He was recommended for
the Military Cross but never received it, possibly
because it would have embarrassed the army
awarding medals to a black officer.
2nd Lieutenant Tull, stands alongside
his comrades at Gailes Officer
Training Corps. Walter Tull didn’t
smoke or drink alcohol.
Phil Vasili
10
1918 Soldier
Now here he was in France about to die,
Returned back to the Somme to meet his fate,
A pale gold ball above him in the sky,
Perhaps they played the game at heaven’s gate.

Just at the moment Tull, our hero, died,

The sun’s bright rays broke through the gloom to shine,
As Private Billingham knelt down and cried,
Walter crossed that white line one final time.

A fter their time in Italy, Walter’s battalion was

transferred to the terrible Somme Valley in
France. On 25th March, 1918, 2nd Lieutenant Tull
was trying to help his men escape the German
advance at Favreuil when he was killed by
machine gun fire, his body was never recovered.
Several of his men attempted to retrieve his body
under heavy fire but were unsuccessful. Their
brave actions are a testament to Walter Tull’s
character and leadership qualities.

Letter from 2nd

Lieutenant Pickard,
describing his loss.
Phil Vasili

Walter’s brother, Edward, would

have received a letter and
memorial plaque from the King,
which was given to relatives who
had lost a family member in the
Great War.
City of Westminster Archives

11
1918 Soldier
“Now I am a soldier with no known grave,
Dear Eddie, Do they still remember me?
I was orphan, footballer, soldier…
The first black combat officer.”

“Walter, your name will live for evermore.”

‘Walter Tull ridiculed the barriers

of ignorance that tried to deny
people of colour equality...
His life stands testament to a
determination to confront those
people.’ Phil Vasili
Today Walter Tull is remembered
by his former club, Northampton
Town, with a memorial outside
of Sixfields Stadium.
Phil Vasili

2nd Lieutenant Tull stands behind his sister, Cecillia.

His brother, Edward stands behind a lady, possibly
Edward’s adopted mother.
Phil Vasili

Walter’s name appears on the

Arras Memorial in France.
Phil Vasili

12
 WALTER DANIEL JOHN TULL
April 28, 1888 - March 25, 1918
 www.crossingthewhiteline.com

City of Westminster Archives Centre

10 St Ann’s Street, London, SW1P 2DE
Telephone: 020 7641 5180
email: [email protected]
www.westminster.gov.uk/libraries/archives