Walter Tull's town, and a community that has kept its own records for more than forty years.
Walter Tull
Walter Tull was born in Folkestone in 1888, the son of a Barbadian carpenter. He played for Clapton and Tottenham Hotspur before joining Northampton Town, and he was the third player of mixed heritage to play in the Football League's top division.
In the First World War he was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 30 May 1917, one of the first mixed-heritage infantry officers in a regular British Army regiment. He was killed near Favreuil on 25 March 1918, early in the German Spring Offensive, and his body was never found. In 1999 Northampton Town unveiled a memorial wall to him in a garden of remembrance at Sixfields, and the road beside the stadium is Walter Tull Way.
From London To Northampton
In the 1950s and after, West Indians made their way from London to live and work in Northampton. Many worked as cleaners, drivers and nurses, and some had served in the British Armed Forces in the Second World War. Their organisations grew with them, from the Caribbean Peoples Organisation to the West Indians Parents Association and the Northampton Afro Caribbean Organisation.
Keeping The Record
Northamptonshire's Black community has written down its own history. A volunteer project started in 1982 recorded life stories of Black people across the county and helped community groups deposit their records at the Northamptonshire Record Office. In 2005 it became the Northamptonshire Black History Association, a charity that teaches the county's Black history, from Walter Tull to John Anderson, a man who escaped slavery in America and lived in Corby in 1861 and 1862.
Black Northampton Today
For the 75th anniversary of Windrush in 2023 the Windrush flag went up outside the Guildhall and Northampton Museum and Art Gallery told the story of the town's West Indian families. Newer communities, including people who came from Somalia, are part of the town now too, and Black-owned food spots, barbers, salons and brands are part of everyday Northampton.
Shop Black-owned businesses in Northampton on CashBlack.
Photo Credits
The Walter Tull memorial and garden of rest at Sixfields, Northampton. Photo: Philip Jeffrey, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons Market Square, Northampton. Photo: Andrew Abbott, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons