Why Britain’s first black officer who gave up Tottenham football career to fight deserves Military Cross

Here, on the 100th anniversary of his death, biographer Phil Vasili tells Sky News why Tull needs to be formally recognised for his WWI bravery.

The first Black infantry officer in the British Army was 2nd Lieutenant Walter Tull.

He was the first black infantry officer to lead white troops into battle and the first black infantry officer to be recommended for a Military Cross, which he never received.

Ever heard of him?

Tull, who had grown up in an orphanage from aged nine after both his parents died, was a footballer, playing for Clapton, Spurs and Northampton.

But he joined the army in December 1914.

Promoted three times as a rank and file soldier, he was commissioned an officer in May 1917.

While on the front line in Italy, Tull twice led his men on night raids and both times returned without casualties.

He was cited for his “gallantry and coolness under fire” by Major General Sir Sydney Lawford, commanding officer of the 41st Division and recommended for the Military Cross.

But a few months later, on 25 March 1918, Tull was killed in action at the Second Battle of the Somme, without the medal being awarded.

According to Army rules he could not have been an officer.

The Manual of Military Law ,1914, stated “commissions… are given to qualified candidates who are natural born or naturalised British subjects of pure European descent”.

Is this why his Military Cross was not pinned to his breast?

After his death, Tull’s commanding officer, Major Poole DSO OBE, broke Army rules in informing his brother Edward of the recommendation:

“[He] was very cool in moments of danger & always volunteered for any enterprise that might be of service.

“He was recommended recently for a Military Cross.

“He had taken part in many raids. His courage was of a high order and was combined with a quiet & unassuming manner.”

On the very day that Tull enlisted a senior Colonial Office civil servant, Gilbert Grindle, warned: “I hear privately that some recruiting officers will pass coloureds.

“Others, however, will not, and we must discourage coloured volunteers.”

Posthumously awarding Tull his Military Cross would recognise the context of institutional racism in which he and other men of colour served as soldiers.

In recent years, historic injustices of institutional and personal racism have been put right.

For example in 2006, Maori Sergeant Haane Manahi posthumously received formal recognition from the Ministry of Defence of his bravery and an apology for denial of his Victoria Cross during WW2.

While 86 years after his death, African-American soldier Henry Johnson was honoured with the prestigious Medal of Honour, the equivalent to the UK’s Victoria Cross.

Presenting the award, President Barack Obama said: “America can’t change what happened to Henry Johnson.

“We can’t change what happened too, to many soldiers like him, who went uncelebrated because our nation judged them by the colour of their skin and not the content of their character.

“But we can do our best to make it right.”

To award Tull his medal will have a practical and symbolic significance: it will both right an injustice to an individual and serve as a belated recognition of the collective acts of bravery and gallantry by black soldiers.

And it will act as an apology for the second-rate treatment they received as soldiers during the war and veterans after when they were both overlooked and ignored in the London victory parades.

But it will, most importantly, help to draw a line under the past injustices caused by the colour bar in the military.

:: For more information about Phil Vasili’s book Walter Tull, (1888-1918): Officer, Footballer, click here http://www.vasili.co.uk/shop.html