The Extraordinary Walter Tull

I saw a part of a docu-drama on TVOntario about Walter Tull  as part of Black History Month.  Walter Tull was quite an amazing guy. I’ll tell you a little bit about what I was able to find about him.

Born in Folkestone, Kent, England in 1888, Walter Tull was the first British-born black army officer and the first black officer to lead white troops into battle and the second person of mixed heritage to play in the first division of England's Football League.

Walter Tull was the son of Barbadian carpenter Daniel Tull and the grandson of a slave. Daniel Tull  arrived in England in 1876 and married the Kent-born Alice Elizabeth Palmer. They went on to have six children. They must have been a courageous couple. The English Census, unlike the U.S, makes no reference to their race.

Walter’s mother died in 1895, when he was just seven. Walter's father remarried but he himself died in 1897. Unable to cope with all six children, their stepmother sent Walter and his brother Edward to an orphanage in Bethnal Green, London.

Brother Edward was adopted by the Warnock family of Glasgow, and qualified as a dentist, probably the first black/mixed race person to practice this profession in the UK.

After finishing his schooling Walter Tull served as an apprentice to a printer. Walter was a keen footballer and tried out for Clapton, an amateur club in East London. In 1908-09 Walter was playing for their first-team. Walter Tull was then signed by Tottenham Hotspur. Tull was only the second black man to play football (soccer) in England.

In May 1909 Walter went on a tour of South America with Tottenham Hotspur and played games in Argentina and Uruguay.

Walter got considerable praise for these early performances. The Daily Chronicle claimed that "Tull's display on Saturday (against Manchester United) must have astounded everyone who saw it. Such perfect coolness, such judicious waiting for a fraction of a second in order to get a pass in not before a defender has worked to a false position, and such accuracy of strength in passing I have not seen for a long time. During the first half, Tull just compelled Curtis to play a good game, for the outside-right was plied with a series of passes that made it almost impossible for him to do anything other than well.”

However, after playing just seven first-team games he was dropped and played the rest of the season in the reserves, probably due to the verbal abuse suffered from the opposing team’s fans. He then transferred to Northampton Town FC.



When war was declared in 1914 Walter Tull enlisted in the army,  the first Northampton player to sign up. Walter had signed to play for the Glasgow Rangers Football Club in Scotland on his return.

During the First World War, Walter served in the Footballers' Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. The Army soon recognized Walter's leadership qualities and he was promoted to the rank of sergeant. He fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916.Walter survived the Somme but in December of the year he developed trench fever and was sent back to England to recover. Walter had impressed his senior officers and it was recommended that he should be considered for further promotion.

When he recovered from his illness, instead of being sent back to France, off he went to  the officer training school at Gailes in Scotland. Despite the 1914 Manual of Military Law specifically excluding "Negroes/Mulattos from exercising command as officers", Walter received his commission as a Second Lieutenant in May, 1917.

Walter Tull  fought in Italy in 1917–18, and was mentioned in despatches for "gallantry and coolness" while leading his company of 26 men on a raiding party into enemy territory. For bringing his men back unharmed Walter Tull was recommended for a Military Cross. He returned to France in 1918, and was killed in action on March 25th during the Spring Offensive. Hit by a German bullet,Walter was such a popular officer that several of his men made valiant efforts under heavy fire from to bring him back to the British trenches but his body was never recovered.

Walter Tull is remembered at The Arras Memorial, Bay 7, for those who have no known grave. He fought in six major battles; Battle of Ancre, November 1916 (first Battle of the Somme); Battle of Messines, June 1917; 3rd Battle of Ypres, July- August 1917, (Passchendaele, Menin Road Bridge); September 1917; Second Battle of the Somme, St.Quentin March 1918; Battle of Bapaume March 1918 (2nd Somme).

Pictures taken from the Ministry of Defence website. and http://www.rawpress.co.uk/About.html
and the BBC.

Sepia Saturday - More Joe Plewis

Oh, dear. Sepia Saturday's got me hooked. Genealogy is a true passion of mine, one that's been obsessing me since I first got my computer and discovered Ancestry.com.
 
I do have pictures of ancestors that go further back than Joseph Plewis. I have a hilarious one of his father and I have one of his mother-in-law that must date from around 1860 because she's dressed like Mary Todd Lincoln. But she's CREEPY.  But Joseph Plewis born 1853 is the oldest ancestor I have information on so you'll have to bear with me again this week.

Here's a picture of my Great Great Grandfather circa 1893 when he was with the fire brigade and working on his facial hair.

Here's a much later picture, probably around 1922-23 of Joe and his lovely wife Harriet. Family lore has it that after Queen Victoria died in 1901, Harriet wore black for the rest of her days, that is, except for special occasions when she was feeling especially frivolous and wore a really nice shade of eggplant. If you are able to zoom into the picture, I now am in possession of the brooch Harriet is wearing at her neck. (Sorry for the blue in the picture - it was very dark).

Joe's dad Edward Plewis, spent most of his life as a farm labourer in and around the village of Hoo, mostly as labourer at Mackay's Court Farm. Joe's youngest sister Elizabeth married a chap named James Mugeridge Bridger, (sometimes he used the Bridger, sometimes not). Anyway, at some point, Elizabeth became the lady of the house at Mackay's Court Farm, where her father had worked for so many years and her sister had worked as a nursemaid.

Mackay's Court Farm is the location of the next two photos. They show the celebration of Joe and Harriet's Diamond Wedding in 1932.

Here's Joe with Harriet on the left - maybe she's wearing aubergine today - and his daughter Ada on the right. My own grandfather (from the other side of the family) managed to get in the picture between them.

Here they are again sitting with their sisters.

I've seen the guest book for this special occasion. It's great to read because not only does it contain the names of the dignitaries that attended, it has the childish scrawl of the aunts and uncles that I can only remember as old folks. My grandfather signed my mother's name on her behalf. She was three and a half and what she remembers about this party is getting stuck under the barn!

Here's Joe, at age 87, at the dedication of the fire engine that was to bear his name and carry his flag-draped coffin to his own funeral.  I think that's a bishop.

An aside - one of Joe's nieces, I think her name name was Nance, lived on a nice old farm called Shakespeare Farm on the Hoo peninsula. My mother remembers visiting it and loved it. She remembered the views over the River Medway and she rembered the porcelain toilet hand-painted with violets. When I Googled it I found that it was one of the largest landfill sites in England. Nice view though.

And that's all she wrote. But maybe if you twist my arm I'll remember something else.

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Edna St. Vincent Millay - (February 22, 1892 – October 19, 1950)

What lips my lips have kissed, and where, and why,
I have forgotten, and what arms have lain
Under my head till morning, but the rain
Is full of ghosts tonight, that tap and sigh
Upon the glass and listen for reply,
And my heart there stirs a quiet pain
For unremembered lads that not again
Will turn to me at midnight with a cry.
Thus in the winter stands the lonely tree,
Nor knows what birds have vanished one by one,
Yet knows its boughs more silent than before:
I cannot say what loves have come and gone,
I only know that summer sang in me
A little while, that in me sings no more.

Sepia Saturday - My Great Great Grandfather

This is my Great Great Grandfather, Joseph Plewis. He's the father of Ada from my previous post. He was born in Hoo (yes, Hoo) just north of the Gillingham, Chatham, Rochester area in Kent, England in 1853.

He started his adult life as an agricultural labourer and by the 1880s he and his wife Harriet went on to run their own Cook Shop/Eating House in Gillingham's High Street. Unfortunately no one in the family could remember what the name of it was.

Although he was known for being teetotal, his wife's father was later recorded living in both the Staff of Life, and The Beehive - both pubs on the Hoo Peninsula. His daughter ran a pub called The Two Sawyers and her husband's family ran a nearby pub called the Plough and Chequers. This must have made the temperance gods very angry.

Somehow along the way, Joseph became the High Constable of Gillingham ( which I believe is like a mayor or reeve). He held that esteemed position for 1898-99.

Family history says that Joseph Plewis initiated the development of the Gillingham Volunteer Fire Brigade. In 1920, he received the Order of the British Empire for "conspicuous courage and devotion to duty at fires caused by hostile aircraft" while Chief Officer of the Gillingham Fire Brigade.

He and Harriet lived on Priestfield Road, a street that dead-ended at Priestfield Stadium home of the Gillingham Football Club . Sundays were very hectic on that street. The house stayed in the family for a while - my brother was born there in 1953. My own father had to deal with the final moments of  Joe's odious son-in-law Fred as he lived in the flat below.

Chief Officer Plewis held the medal of the "Life Saving Society of France." Tere was also some exchange program between the fire brigades of France and the County of Kent, hence the picture above.


It says, roughly:

"Captain Plewis

Brigade Commander of Gillingham (Kent County), is also very experienced in the world of fire-fighters. His brigade is also the well-organized winner of the main competition. They are highly trained in fire and ambulance service. Captain Plewis is an Honorary Member of the National Federation of Fire Brigades and the French Federation Belgium. Honorary Member of the Union of the Corps of the Fire Brigade of the Lyonnaise Region. Holder of a Medal of Honour of the French Government and honourary member of the Lifeguard of the Aisne. Gillingham is a town located in Kent County and most important country(?) in this county of a population of about 40,000 inhabitants."

When he died, his coffin was transported on the Plewis Engine, a fire truck that was dedicated to him. Just today I found online a picture of my Great Grandfather, yes that's him front and centre with a chest full of medals.  The picture was taken circa 1929 which means he was around for the "Fireman's Wedding Disaster" at the Gillingham Park Fete.But more about that later.  I hope that didn't blot his copy book.

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Ada

Here's a picture of my Great Grandmother and Grandfather on their wedding day. They were married in the spring of 1898 in the Medway region of Kent.

Ada Elizabeth Plewis was born in 1880 into a teetotal household. Her new husband, George Cleaves had been born into a pub-owning family. The Cleaves family  managed the pub, "The Plough and Chequers" in Gillingham since about 1850. That must have lead to an unusual wedding reception!

They themselves went on to manage a pub near the Chatham dockyards called "The Two Sawyers". Apparently they had a good reputation with the sailors stationed nearby because the couple didn't turn them in if they were out past curfew. They made them comfortable in the pub for the night. Some sailors of the time, circa 1903, thanked my Great Grandparents buy buying them a new "time gentlemen please" bell. Around 25 years ago my Grandmother and my uncle visited the pub, probably for her 85th birthday. They told the current landlords the story and they ceremoniously took down the bell and handed to her to keep. Unfortunately I think the bell was sold along with her other possessions when she died.

Poor George died in 1909 of  tuberculosis. But before that  - in the 11 years Ada and George were married - they had 8 children but only 2 lived. May, Percy, Harold, Doris, Leonard, Ronald, Ivo and Cyril.  Apart from my Grandmother Doris and her brother Ron, all of them died before they reached 9 months of age. Despite the shocking fact that she may have been pregnant with the twins May and Percy before they were married, Ada never let her husband see her naked.

A year after George died, Ada married one of his friends. Frederick Godfrey Walkefield Oakley Holmes had been a piccolo player with the Royal Engineers since he was 15 years old. Mr. Holmes was a rotter (at least in my books). Poor Ada had been through 7 pregnancies and the death of her handsome husband, but Fred Holmes didn't want her children around - therefore my Grandmother and Ron were raised from the ages of  7 and 5 respectively by their grandparents. Luckily for them, their Grandfather was a wonderful man. More about him in a future post maybe.

Ada and her new husband Fred had a baby of their own within the year - the intensely spoiled Freda.

Ada, Fred and Freda moved to Dover where she owned and managed the local post office and gift shop.

She was around to see both World Wars. In the years between the wars Ada welcomed her grandchildren to the seaside town. Buckets and spades were bestowed upon my Mum and Uncle Ken. Probably some Rupert books too.

Ada died in 1953. Both pubs thrive today. The Plough and Chequers' Petanque team has a world class reputation and is known for it's live music. Maybe one day...

Jersey

The Adventures of Hergé and Tintin

I've posted this piece before but in order to ride on the coattails of the Pierre Assouline's biography of Hergé, The Man Who Created Tintin, Oxford University Press, I'm running it again. I originally wrote it in 2003 for my then-9-year-old son.




Hergé is the pen name of Georges Rémi, the Belgian author and illustrator who created Tintin in 1929 and produced 24 internationally famous comic books centering around the young reporter and his faithful fox terrier.

Hergé's Tintin books were written between 1929 and 1970 and have been translated from the original French into 40 languages.

Georges Rémi was born near Brussels in 1907. At fourteen, he joined his school's Boy Scout troop where he was given the nickname of "Renard curieux" (curious fox). His first drawings were published in his school magazine. Later his drawings were featured in the monthly Belgian Boy Scout Magazine.

In 1924 Georges Rémi decided to sign his drawings by Hergé, the name which when pronounced with a French accent, is his inverted initials (RG).

Tintin appeared for the very first time on January 10th, 1929, in the weekly magazine, Le Petit Vingtième. Tintin's adventures were later reprinted as books.

Tintin appears to be an adolescent with no known family. His age is hard to pinpoint; sometimes he seems to be a teen, but generally he behaves like an adult. He never has a girlfriend. Women would interfere with the adventures that come his way. Though Tintin is supposed to earn his living as a reporter, he never sits at a typewriter. Fate has turned him into an adventurer and a detective.

Courageous Tintin never hesitates when confronting the forces of evil. The direct opposite of the majority of cartoon heroes, he has no remarkable characteristics. He uses his intelligence and common sense to battle the wicked and protect the weak. Occasionally he reveals hidden talents; he can fly an airplane, and he can beat a tiger.

Tintin's supporting cast of characters include his white fox-terrier Snowy, two dim-witted detectives, Thompson and Thomson whose antics reveal Hergé's attraction to slapstick humour, Captain Haddock, with his boundless taste for liquor and the absent-minded and deaf Professor Calculus.

In the original French, Snowy is Milou. The name came about thanks to a girlfriend of Hergé's whose name was Malou. Snowy is present in the first drawing of the first adventure, Tintin in the Land of the Soviets. There are similarities between Snowy and Captain Haddock. Both are irritable and talkative and both are susceptible to drink. In fact, when Captain Haddock arrives on the scene as a permanent character, Snowy becomes less talkative. In a sense, Haddock replaced Snowy as Tintin's number one friend.

Always at the ready to arrest Tintin are the narrow-minded police officers, the Thompsons. Identical at first glance, they are neither twins nor brothers. Only the shape of their moustaches distinguishes them. As Hergé once explained, Thompson has a straight moustache whereas Thomson’s is slightly twisted. Their constant repetition of what the other says and their favorite expression, “To be precise” makes them comical despite their pompousness.

In Hergé's original French Thompson and Thomson are Dupont and Dupond. Around the world they are known quite differently. Here are some twists on their names: Uys & Buys, Schulze & Schultze, Tik & Tak, Hueber & Grueber Hernandez & Fernandez, Jansen & Jansens.

Throughout the years Hergé worked with various people. One who greatly assisted his work was the Chinese student Chang Chon-Jen whom he met in 1936 while starting on The Blue Lotus. Chang encouraged Hergé to do serious research for each place and country Tintin visited, instead of relying on other sources of information. Hergé became convinced of the importance of a soundly built storyline and of the need for documentation. He began to take seriously what was, up till then, just a bit of fun. Hergé and Chang became good friends, and he even based one of his characters, Chang Chon-Chen after him.

A Tintin magazine was created in 1946. The weekly publication, which showcased comics by other artists plus Tintin and Snowy, lasted until 1993.

In 1950, after beginning work on Explorers on the Moon, a story requiring much detailed technical work and research, Hergé enlisted a number of teammates and founded the Studios Hergé.

The result was a precise and visionary work of science fiction. Explorers on the Moon was incredibly futuristic, though it was 15 years before astronauts would actually visit the moon. In 1982 to celebrate Hergé's 75th birthday, the Belgian Astronomical Society named an asteroid after him. "Asteroid 1652" located between Mars and Jupiter became "Planet Hergé.

Hergé died in 1983. In 1988, in a Brussels subway station, a huge mural was unveiled depicting the cast of characters from the adventures of Tintin

More Tintin facts can be found at www.tintin.comSearch Amazon.com for tin tinSearch Amazon.com for tin tinSearch Amazon.com for tin tinSearch Amazon.com for tin tin