Walter Tull and I

During my 48 years as a local journalist, I’ve written thousands of stories about local people, past and present. So when I was contacted by researchers from the Dover War Memorial Project with information they had uncovered about a local war hero, it seemed like just another story.

Walter Tull, they said, was born and lived in Folkestone, but his mother came from Dover, which made it of interest to us. They explained how, after the death of both his parents, young Walter had gone into a children’s home, taken up football, and become the first black outfield professional footballer, combating racism while playing for Tottenham Hotspur and Northampton, and then serving in the First World War with distinction.

Despite the regulations, he had been appointed an officer - the first black officer to serve in the British Army - leading his men with courage and bravery, and being killed in the second Battle of the Somme, months before the war ended.

It was only in 2009, when the researchers gave me information about Walter’s mother, Alice, that I found I had a special interest in the story.

Alice was from the Palmer family who lived in the village of Hougham near Dover - and so was my grandmother, Ethel. Further research revealed that she and Walter were first cousins - Walter’s grandfather Stephen Palmer was my great-great grandfather - and therefore Walter and I are first cousins twice removed!

The surviving generations of our family - my mother (Ethel’s daughter) was still alive at the time of the discovery - had no idea of the connection, so we have been immensely proud to find out more about ‘Our Walter.’

But ‘Our Walter’ is everyone’s Walter: A wonderful sportsman and a true British hero. That’s why we are supporting the campaign for Walter to be awarded the Military Cross for which he was, and which he so richly deserved.

As we prepare to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War in 2014, it is only right that the authorities should give Walter the honour he is due, and he should take his rightful place in history.

Please sign the petition

Graham Tutthill, one of Walter Tull’s relatives