"Walter Tull Military Cross Petition" Topic

There is a new petition to encourage the UK government to change the rules on the posthumous awarding of the Military Cross so the first British black officer is awarded his after being denied due to the colour of his skin.

More on my blog:

link

Thanks for bringing this to my notice.

I have just signed the petition.

@ Steve Blease,

Without being unsympathetic, is there any chance you could provide a source for the quote on your blog that the only reason that he was not awarded the cross because he was not a British citizen of European descent? Nobody I've read on this subject has said they have come across any primary evidence that the denial was on racial grounds – a fact supported by (a) his original commissioning in the first place, and (b) the Mention In Dispatches he received earlier in the war.

The recommendation for the award was made by his CO and passed on, also with his own recommendation, by the GOC of the Division. It was refused at, I think, Corps level by an officer who very probably didn't even know who Tull was, nor his ethnicity (there were no boxes to "tick" on official forms in those days). I have no doubt that Walter Tull was a very brave and honourable young man, who did things that I doubt I would have had the courage to do. However, appeals to emotion, without evidence (and the implied presumption of the guilt of others), do nobody any favours and simply serve to encourage the demonisation of other groups in society.

Anyone with connections on "LinkedIn" might like to have a look at a similar thread on there which has attracted well-reasoned responses from two historians with first-hand experience of researching Tull's life (I could cut-and-paste their comments if required):-

link

Philip Dudley has friends who worked on a TV documentary on Tull where everyone was forced to ignore evidence of any factors in the denial of the award EXCEPT racism. Richard Baldwin organises WW1 battlefield tours, and includes lectures on Tull's life and military career; he recently led a tour by children from "sink" schools in the very area that Tull came from. Both historians see the campaigns for a posthumous MC (remember that Tull was killed very soon after the acts for which he was cited for the MC, and it could not be awarded posthumously until 1979) as mostly well-meaning but misguided emotiveness, but occasionally just another example of the all-too-common presumptive and ill-informed prejudice against the British officer corps of the period.

The quote is from a debate in the House of Commons in 2008. I appreciate that not all recommendations for medals are granted but his commission was in direct contravention of 1914 Manual of Military Law and (according to the debate) that was the reason given for the award not progressing which pre-dates his death (remember the action giving rise to the recommendation was in Italy, he died subsequently in France).

Well, British politicians aren't noted for their grasp of history – in contrast to, say, their grasp of how jumping onto PC band-wagons can make them popular.

Yes, I'd forgotten that his actions were in Italy. The subsequent transfer to another theatre and the related bureaucracy could in itself be a more than adequate explanation for the award being turned down.

Having had first-hand experience of the Mary Seacole fiasco (my two teenage sons became convinced from their history lessons at school that she had been more influential in the evolution of British nursing than Florence Nightingale), I have perhaps become somewhat suspicious of situations where far more obvious explanations are ignored in favour of seizing the opportunity to play the race card.

[Just to be clear, none of my comments are aimed at you.]

"their grasp of how jumping onto PC band-wagons can make them popular." True but this was a Tory MP so I was prepared to accept him being less PC driven.

Other accounts say the recommendation was lost but Michael Morpurgo has a similar view to mine that the 1979 rule should be amended to benefit Tull and others.

I think Tull is a fascinating story both in football and the army probably why I'd like to see his bravery recognised…

Agree with Seacole, she does deserve recognition but I don't understand why this has to be at the expense of Nightingale. Both women contributed to nursing and both should be recognised for what they did,

I'm not sure that Seacole contributed to nursing at all; she is simply an example of Black tokenism in teaching. A large proportion of newer History teachers are convinced of her playing a major role in nursing, rather than running a hotel for officers, which is what she actually did. On the other hand, the beatification of Nightingale does need challenging, especially as:
1) She only made one very fleeting visit to the Crimea as Raglans guest, her father and Raglan being neighbours and friends.
2) The death toll in the hospital supervised by her at Scutari went up after her arrival, partly due to her refusal to accept Snow's theories on the cause of cholera.
3) Her closest friend happened to be the Editor of the Times, and ensured that only her endeavours would be reported.

The fact remains that Walter Tull, a brave and honourable man was denied the MC because they were not awarded posthumously, even if this was because of delays in the recommendations getting to the right people meaning the potetial recipient was dead before the award could be granted. In any case, if we make an exception for Walter Tull on fairly specious grounds, there would, and should be thousands of other people who should have been awarded the MC. Will they get the support that Walter Tull's case has?