Transcript Presentation Title

World War I- the contribution of
Black and Minority Ethnic
Communities
Invisible Still?
Conspicuous by absence?
The Invisible
Contribution
In the region of one and a half
million Indian soldiers served in the
First World War, along with over
15,000 men from the Caribbean.
This poster evidences how at the
time the contribution of the people
of the former colonies was not
recognised or valued in the way the
efforts of others was.
This presentation will explore the
many acts of bravery and the
significant part BME communities
played during the First World War.
It will focus on the biography of
Walter Tull and through his
remarkable story, explore the
prejudices he faced and how he
came to overcome them.
Walter Daniel John
Tull- early childhood
Walter was born on 28th April 1888 in
Folkestone. His father was John Tull, a
joiner by trade and son of a slave. John
came to Britain in 1876 from St Thomas
Parish in Barbados. John married a local
girl, Alice Palmer, in 1880. Together they
had six children.
Walter attended North Board Elementary
School.
In 1895, when Walter was just seven
years old, his mother died. His father remarried Clara Palmer, but in December
1897, his father also tragically died
leaving the children orphaned. Clara
could not manage all six children and in
1898, Walter and his brother Edward
were sent to Bonner Road Orphanage,
owned by the Methodist Church in
Bethnal Green, London.
Pictured in the photograph with four of his
siblings and his father, Walter is seated in
the middle of the front row.
A Footballing
Legend
During his time at the Children’s Home,
Walter discovered he had a talent for
football. After finishing school he served
as an apprentice printer, but in 1908 he
was invited to join Clapton FC (later
known as Leyton Orient) and his
footballing career began.
In 1909 he came to the attention of
Tottenham Hotspur and made his club
debut soon after. Initially he received
much praise from the footballing press
and he was considered a star player.
Not everybody however appreciated
Walter’s skill and professionalism. During
a game in Bristol he was targeted with a
torrent of racial abuse from the Bristol
fans. Thereafter, Tottenham played him
almost entirely in the reserve teamfearing the reactions of fans.
In 1911, Northampton Town FC recruited
him to the Cobblers having witnessed him
score a hat-trick during a game against
Tottenham. He went on to play 110
games for the Cobblers’ first team.
•
An Officer and a
Gentleman
In December 1914, Walter became the first
Cobblers’ player to enlist. At that time military
rules had initially prevented Black people
joining White regiments, but Walter fought on
the Western Front in the 17th (1st Football)
Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment.
In 1916, having been invalided out as a result
of trench fever, he was sent to Officer Cadet
Training School in Scotland, even though
there was an official bar on Black people
exercising actual command because it was
deemed “to be bad for discipline”.
In May 1917, he became Britain’s first Black
infantry officer, a 2nd Lieutenant of the 23rd
Middlesex (2nd Football) Regiment.
He was sent to Italy where he twice led his
company on raids without the loss of a single
man. He was mentioned in dispatches for his
coolness and gallantry and was
recommended by his commanding officer for
the Military Cross. He never received the
award. Walter was killed in action during the
2nd battle of the Somme near Favrenil in NoMan’s land in March 1918.
Royal Mint Honours
Walter’s memory
As part of a five-year programme of
remembrance, Walter will be
featured on one of six £5.00 coins
in the first commemorative set soon
to be released.
"Any person who is for the time being an alien may… be enlisted in His
Majesty's regular forces, so, however, the number of aliens serving together at
any one time in any corps of the regular forces shall not exceed … one alien to
every fifty British subjects, and that an alien … shall not be capable of holding
any higher rank in His Majesty's regular forces than that of a warrant officer or
non-commissioned officer."
A special announcement that appeared during WWI in The Manual of
Military Law.
After many year’s campaigning, there is now a memorial for Walter. Part
of the text on the memorial reads:
‘Through his actions WDJ Tull ridiculed
the barriers of ignorance that tried to
deny people of colour equality with their
contemporaries‘
Walter Tull showed that black and white
men and women can live together as
equals.
And yet we can still see evidence today in football stadiums across the
world, and almost every aspect of daily life, that there is still much work
to be done to eradicate racism and bring about real equality. Walter’s
story forms part of a school’s anti-racist education programme delivered
by the Achievement and Equality Team, alongside other campaigns such
as Show Racism the Red Card.
William Tull
One among many…..
Walter wasn’t the only BME soldier
to show courage and a loyalty to
the “Mother Country”. Many
answered the call to enlist believing
they were to be treated as equals
on the battlefield. They were to find
that this was far from the case and
those that survived the war found
they continued to face prejudice
and open hostility in spite of the
thousands that had given their lives
or suffered severe injury. Those
that returned to England after the
war were often bitterly disappointed
and like Walter their contribution
remained unrecognised until only
very recent times.
William Stephen Palmer Tull, Walter's older brother, also lies in a war
grave. He was a Sapper in the Royal Engineers, and died from
tuberculosis on 12th March 1920, aged 37. He had been gassed during
the war. He left a widow, Gertrude Mary Tull, from 59 Greenfield Road,
Folkestone. He is buried at Cheriton, Folkestone.
“When we got home, if you got a mother or father you have something,
but if you're alone, you got to look for work. When I come I had nobody. I
had to look for work. I had to eat and buy clothes. Who going to give me
clothes? I didn't have a father or nobody. Now I said, 'The English are no
good.' I went to Jamaica and I meet up some soldiers and I asked them,
'Here boy, what the government give you?' They said, 'The government
give us nothing.' I said, 'We just the same.'”
George Blackman talking about his experience as a Jamaican
soldier in WWI
From across the
globe
Battle of the Somme - July November 1916
15,000 soldiers from the West
Indies Regiment saw action in
France, Palestine, Egypt and Italy
during the first world war
2,500 of them were killed or
wounded
From the Guardian newspaper,
2002
Propaganda poster
Indians contributed over £100
million pounds to the War effort.
1,440,500 Indians fought for Britain
during the first world war
47,000 were killed
65,000 were wounded
A sense of duty
West Indies Regiment Soldiers
camped on the Albert-Amiens Road
“We wanted to go. Because the
island government told us that the
king said all Englishmen must go to
join the war. The country called all
of us." From a 2002 interview
with George Blackman – a
Jamaican man aged 105 who
fought in WWI
Unequal partners
When they arrived, they often found
that fighting was to be done by
white soldiers only - black soldiers
were assigned the dirty and
dangerous jobs of loading
ammunition, laying telephone wires
and digging trenches. Conditions
were appalling. From an article in
the Guardian Newspaper about
Jamaican soldiers in WWI
Hard labour
Troops of the Egyptian Labour
Corps unloading a supply hulk off a
ship moored off Tripoli, October
1918
Comradeship
Soldiers of the South African Native
Labour Corps- seen during a sports
day at Dannes 24 June 1917
An Indian Sepoy pays a visit to
the grave of two British airmen
who were brought down in the
desert by the enemy who erected
the propeller of their machine as
a memorial to them.
On all fronts
Buglers of the 3rd battalion Nigeria Regiment- circa 1917
Men of the 1/4th King’s African Rifles at Njombe, German East
Africa. Formed at the beginning of the century from tribesmen
in British East Africa (now Kenya) and Uganda, the KAR bore
the brunt of most of the fighting during the campaign.
Sepoy Khudadad Khan, VC, 129th
Duke of Connaught's Own
Baluchis, Hollebeke Sector,
Belgium.
First Battle of Ypres, 31 October 1914.
London Gazette 4 December 1914 (dated 7
December 1914)
On 31st October, 1914, at Hollebeke,
Belgium, the British Officer in charge of the
detachment having been wounded, and the
other gun put out of action by a shell, Sepoy
Khudadad, though himself wounded,
remained working his gun until all the other
five men of the gun detachment had been
killed.
Khudadad Khan was born in Dabb Village,
Punjab State, Pakistan. When war broke out
he joined the Army as a Sepoy or Private
soldier and served as a machine gunner. In
October 1914 his regiment was sent to the
front line in France. All the gunners were
killed apart from Khan who was badly
wounded. For his bravery in France and his
involvement in preventing the German Army
reaching vital ports, Khan received the
Victoria Cross. He was the first native-born
Indian to receive this honour.
A portrait of a Gurkha holding a
kukri
Gurkhas being photographed in
Egypt
Everlasting
appreciation?
Indian troops marching towards the
front- greeted by enthusiastic
French women.
Like their counterparts from the
Caribbean, many former Indian
soldiers discovered in the years
that followed that their efforts were
easily forgotten by the “Mother
Country”.
Our History
This presentation acknowledges the many and varied contributions of men and women
across the globe during 1914-1918. It seeks not to single out any one group over any
other, but simply to ensure that all those who dedicated their lives in service are not
forgotten or overlooked by the record of history. Black History Month has been celebrated
in the UK for many years and yet still many young people and adults are unaware of the
significant contributions made by those from all backgrounds to shape the society we live
in today. The communities featured in this display belong to our shared history. By
overcoming the many barriers they indeed faced they began to change the attitudes of
individual and British society. Although it cannot be denied that racism still exists in the
UK, in raising awareness of their contributions, we aim to take a step closer to creating
the society Walter and others dreamed about.