Walter Tull and Family History
It was a typically dank Remembrance Day,
When I biked out to Lydiard Millicent,
Through Wiltshire lanes and sodden yellow leaves;
I went to see Mr. Arthur Tull, a relation of my mum’s,
Who had a family tree going back, he reckoned,
To the 18th century seed drill Tull, good old Jethro.
We didn’t discuss the fact that 4% of white Britons
May well have black slave ancestry,
Nor did the TV show any West Indian or Asian old soldiers
Marching beneath the umbrellas, laying any wreaths,
And when we talked football and the good old days,
We didn’t mention Walter Tull, Tottenham inside left
Until he was traumatised by Bristol City bigots,
Back in those imperial golden days before the Great War.
Walter, the London grandson of a slave,
Transferred to Northampton Town,
Then courted by Grimsby and Glasgow Rangers,
Until he joined the 1st Football Battalion,
The Middlesex Regiment,
Fighting on the Somme and maybe meeting my footballing granddad,
Becoming a sergeant, and then 2nd lieutenant Tull,
The 2nd ever black professional footballer,
And the 1st ever black officer in the British Army.
2nd Lieutenant Walter Tull,
Once a printer, grandson of a slave, orphaned son of a joiner,
KIA 25th March 1918, aged 29,
Eulogised by his Commanding Officer,
“The battalion and company have lost a faithful officer
and personally, I have lost a friend”,
And so popular with his men,
That they repeatedly tried to get him back,
As he lay dead in No Mans’ Land,
He must have had the common touch, Walter,
Even though he was an uncommon man.
But I didn’t discuss any of this with Arthur,
How could I? I hadn’t heard of Walter 20 odd years ago –
But next season, when Swindon play at Northampton,
I’ll visit his Garden of Remembrance,
And I’ll take a poppy from me and one from Arthur,
And one from my dad and my grandad
And one from my brother-in-law,
And his dad from Bristol City,
So the future can reclaim the past
And so the past can redefine the future,
A future of comradeship way beyond the confine of colour.
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Welcome to Football Poets -- a club for all football poets, lovers of football and lovers of (alternative) poetry. Discover poets in every league from respected internationals at the top of their game to young hopefuls in the school playground.
Publish your football poems here and then discuss them with your team mates and fans. We're archived by The British Library, so your masterpieces are in the safe hands of a world-class keeper. What a result!
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joe morris
24th September 2023
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23rd September 2023
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Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
24th September 2023 at 5:14 pm
Very accurate indeed!
Palace home for me is always a tough journey as well. From the wilds of west London to Selhurst is a random journey into the unknown.
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20th September 2023 at 1:37 pm
Lovely stuff for one of the best.
We love him to death down at the Palace.
I’ll post my Roy poem a bit later. You’ve inspired me to finish it.
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19th September 2023 at 5:06 pm
I’d like to think some of my scarves might get passed down the generations, but can’t see some of the “quality merchandise” I have making much past my son’s generation. They’ll fall apart before he even has kids, I reckon!
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7th September 2023 at 2:43 pm
Very true Crispin. Thanks!
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3rd September 2023 at 6:55 pm
Play Up Pompey indeed Richard .
My first ever proper game when i was 10 was Chelsea 7-4 Pompey on Xmas morning 1959, Greavesie got 4.
First visited Fratton Park with Chelsea (2-2) and stood among loads of sailors back in the old Second Dvision early 60s . That’s when I first heard the Pompey Chimes..
Last visited in the mid 2000s to run a football poetry workshop on racism with local young students in the Study Centre you had then at the time.
Had a great chat with some of your fans when you came here to Forest Green last season…
best wishes
Crispin
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1st September 2023 at 7:17 pm
Cliché heaven or hell..we get it all
Welcome to Football Poets John
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28th August 2023 at 10:54 am
Thanks Crispin – noted re the boxer! Never know, perhaps we’ll get Forest Green in the cup… or Chelsea!
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27th August 2023 at 4:47 pm
Hey Rowan
Tough line up of opening fixtures but werlcome to the National League and to Football Poets.
I’ve often passed your ground but never actually been.
Had to remove the boxert poem , sorry ….only poems about football, though i did read your tenuous link!
best wishes
Crispin -Editor
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6th August 2023 at 3:46 pm
Don’t worry Apollo, I have examined the evidence on YouTube – he looks great, the real deal!
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7th July 2023 at 5:26 pm
Let’s Hope for your sake Denys, that he doesn’t turn out to be from La-la-Land!
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