The Walter Tull Memorial Cup


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Reference WMO/291374

Address:

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium or Ibrox

782 High Road / 150 Edmiston Drive

Tottenham

London / Glasgow

N17 0PX / G51 2XD

England

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War Memorials Trust case: War Memorials Trust needs to avoid Contributors changing location/description details as we help to protect and conserve this war memorial through our casework. You can still add photographs, update condition and use the tabs below. If you believe any of the information you cannot edit is wrong or information is missing, please make a note of the reference number and include it in your email when you contact us.

Status: On subsequent site(s)
Type: Freestanding
Location: Internal
Setting: Inside a building - public/private
Description: Trophy/Relic
Materials:
  • Metal Silver
Lettering: Incised
Conflicts:
  • First World War (1914-1918)
About the memorial: A presentation trophy. The location will depend who has won the cup most recently - record currently places it in London as it refers to 2022-23 result (Spurs won). The cup has been competed for annually at a friendly football match between Tottenham Hotspur and Rangers since 2004. Walter was the first black Officer in the British Army. He was born in Folkestone, his grandfather was enslaved in Barbados. He played football for Clapton in 1908, then Tottenham Hotspur 1908 to 1911, Northampton Town 1911 to 1914, and Rangers 1917 to 1918. He was killed in action at the first Battle of Bapaume on 25 March 1918. There are other memorials to him at Folkestone WMO/134139 and Northampton WMO/138566, 290402 and 291373. This war memorial includes, or is solely dedicated to, Walter Daniel John Tull. Walter was born on 28th April 1888 in Folkestone to a father from Barbados and a mother from Kent. He started playing professional football in 1908 and was the second person of African-Caribbean mixed heritage to play in the English Football League’s top division and the first of African descent to play for Rangers when stationed in Scotland. He joined the 17th (1st Football) Batt of the Middlesex Regt as a Lance-Corporal at the start of World War I. He suffered shell shock after service in France but was back in action in 1916 and participated in the Battle of the Somme. Following officer training he served in the 23rd (2nd Footballers) Batt of the Middlesex Regt as a 2nd Lieutenant. Tull is believed to be the first African-Caribbean mixed heritage man to lead white troops into battle for the British Army. When promoted in 1917, army rules technically forbade a ‘person of colour’ being commissioned as an Officer. He died on 25 March 1918, aged 29, during the Second Battle of the Somme and is commemorated at the Arras Memorial to the Missing.
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