Walter Tull
Person Male Born 28/4/1888 Died 25/3/1918
Footballer and army officer. Born Walter Daniel John Tull at 57 Walton Road, Folkestone. He served an apprenticeship as a printer, but turned to football as a career. He signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1909 and moved to Northampton Town in 1911. In WW1 he served in both Footballers' Battalions of the Middlesex Regiment (17th and 23rd), eventually becoming the first black combat officer in the British army, despite army rules forbidding a black manfrom taking up such a role. Killed in action during the Spring Offensive, near the village of Favreuil in the Pas-de-Calais.
2018: The Guardian reports that Tull was recommended for a Military Cross but this was never awarded, and that there is a campaign, supported by 127 MPs for this medal to be awarded posthumously.
