Walter Tull
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Walter Tull (1888-1918) was the second black football player to play for a professional club in the United Kingdom and the first ever black officer in the British Army.
Walter Tull was born in Folkestone, the son of a local woman and a carpenter who had emigrated from Barbados. He signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1908 but only made seven first team appearances before he was dropped to the reserves. This may have been due to the racial abuse he received from opposing fans. He was sold to Northampton Town in 1910 and made 110 first team appearances for the club. Rangers negotiated to buy Tull's contract in 1914, but when war broke out Tull enlisted in the army.
During the First World War Tull served in the famous footballer's pals battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, rising to the rank of sergeant and fighting in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. When Tull was promoted to Second Lieutenant in May 1917 he became the first black officer in the British Army. Tull fought in Italy in 1917, and was mentioned in dispatches. He returned to northern France in 1918, and was killed in action leading an assault on German lines near the village of Favreuil in the Pas De Calais.
The first black football player to play professionally was Arthur Wharton, a goalkeeper for Rotherham F.C. in 1889 whilst Andrew Watson is credited as the first black international football player in 1881.