One hundred years after his death, the achievements of Walter Tull, the first man of black heritage to become an officer and lead men into battle in the British Army and one of this country’s first black professional footballers will be commemorated through a series of community engagement projects, backed by the governing bodies of football in England.

Born in Kent to a Barbadian father and local British mother, Tull was orphaned at the age of 8 and spent his formative years in east London children’s home. After making his mark as a talented local football player, he went on to become one of Britain’s first professional players from a black heritage, playing first for Clapton FC before being signed by Tottenham Hotspur and later transferring to Northampton Town in the then Southern League.

Abandoning his career and enlisting in the ‘Football Battalion’, Walter Tull rose through the army ranks to become an officer despite the explicit restrictions to promotion at the time. After serving on the Western Front, then in Italy, Walter Tull was killed in action at the second battle of the Somme in March 1918.

Communities Minister Lord Bourne said:

Walter Tull is a true British hero, who went to great lengths to overcome the barriers of class and colour to fight for his country. Tull 100 is an excellent opportunity for all of us to learn more about his courageous actions in the First World War and his extraordinary football career.

This ambitious project will also hold a mirror to our times; allowing young people to see how far we have come and ensure progress continues in creating a society where everyone, regardless of background, can reach their full potential.

The Tull 100 project launches on the centenary of his death, 25 March 2018, and will work through football clubs, youth groups, schools and community networks across the country to undertake innovative projects. Small-scale funding will be available to support activity.

Tull 100 has “No Barriers” as its central message – developed with a Football Association Youth Advisory Group – and will work to counter discrimination by promoting equality and inclusion, regardless of race, gender, sexuality, and age. Commemorative medals will be awarded to those who make their communities more inclusive.

Premier League

The Tull 100 project will be part of the Premier League Christmas Truce tournament. The flagship international tournament for under 12s takes place each year at Ypres, Belgium, on an artificial pitch created and funded by the Premier League, and involves the young players taking part in a series of educational visits and tours of the area as well as playing academy sides from across Europe.

Two of the 6 teams qualify through an education challenge, 4 through qualifying football tournaments played across England on Remembrance weekend. Last year the Academies took part in another Big Ideas project, Passchendaele at Home. In 2018, the education challenge will be the Tull 100 project.

Thousands of schools will also be encouraged to take part in the Tull 100 project through Premier League Clubs’ community schemes and the ground-breaking Primary Stars programme.

Richard Scudamore, Premier League Executive Chairman said:

Walter Tull was an inspirational figure and his achievements are rightly recognised in football and beyond.

As Britain’s first Army officer of black heritage, and an outstanding footballer, it is important that his story continues to be told and his life commemorated at this important time.

The Premier League’s support for this programme complements the range of Centenary activity clubs will this year deliver in schools and Academies, including honouring the lives of former players who served their country during the First World War.

The EFL will work closely with the Tull 100 project supporting its nationwide network of clubs and community trusts to take an active role in ensuring there are “No Barriers” to inclusion and diversity in modern-day football. In addition Northampton Town will be taking a leading role in local commemorations for their celebrated player.

English Football League Chief Executive, Shaun Harvey said:

Walter Tull was an extraordinary individual and his story is deeply rooted in the heritage of the EFL through his career at Northampton Town, with the Walter Tull memorial proudly positioned at Sixfields stadium.

It is important that his life continues to be recognised and the EFL therefore is proud to commemorate his achievements at this landmark time, coming one hundred years after he lost his life during the second battle of the Somme.

Representatives of the FA Leadership Academy and Youth Council network will be invited to participate in the Tull100 project as part of their Youth Leadership pathway this year. Youth leaders will participate in themed events and will engage with grassroots community projects across the country before their graduation in August.

Football Association Chief Executive Martin Glenn said:

Walter Tull is known as a talented footballer, an inspirational leader and a great model for values such as equality, service, collaboration and citizenship.

It’s an honour for The FA and our FA Youth Council to be involved in this project and we’re keen to share the story of his life and the commitments he made for the benefit of others. We will use our involvement in this project as a catalyst for our youth leadership programme, mobilising more young people to create positive change across their communities through their love of football.

Big Ideas CEO Virginia Crompton said:

The centenary of Walter Tull, a man of dual heritage, offers a unique opportunity to promote inclusion and to celebrate an icon of British history. The Tull 100 project will work with the football sector alongside schools and youth groups. It’s a call to action and a challenge: how will you make a difference to honour the memory of Walter Tull?

To commemorate the centenary of Walter Tull’s death, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government are funding Big Ideas to lead nationwide community engagement projects in 2018.

Register interest and request a unique Tull100 poster by emailing Tull100@bigideascompany.org

Follow the project through the hashtags: #Tull100 #FootballRemembers #NoBarriers

Medals for Tull is part of a wider programme of community engagement projects marking the centenary of the First World War, including a continuation of The Unremembered (which marks the contributions of the Labour Corps), as well as new projects including Ringing Remembers (honouring the many bell-ringers who died in the war). Find out more at www.big-ideas.org.

Big Ideas creates programmes that encourage community participation, inclusion and cohesion across the arts, heritage, science and sport. They specialise in projects which bring groups together and create new experiences and relationships on a local, national and international scale.

Historical background

Walter Tull’s beginnings were humble – born in Folkestone in 1888, his mother was a local woman from a farming family, his father a carpenter recently arrived from Barbados. Both his parents had passed away by the time Tull was 8 years old.

He was then raised in a London children’s home in Bethnal Green, East London and soon made his mark as a footballer, first as a member of his orphanage football team and from 1908, while working as an apprentice printer, for amateur side Clapton F.C. He was then signed by Tottenham Hotspur the following year and in 1911 transferred to Northampton Town in the Southern League for whom he played 111 games.

Attitudes to race in Britain during his lifetime were openly discriminatory. As a professional footballer Tull was in the public eye and there are accounts of racist chanting directed at Tull from crowds.

Walter Tull enlisted in the 17th (Service) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment – known as the ‘Football Battalion’, as professional footballers were at its core – in the autumn of 1914. In May 1916, the then Sergeant Tull suffered shell shock and spent time recuperating in hospital. Following his recovery he returned to the Western Front and saw action at the Battle of the Somme and at Passchendaele.

The Manual of Military Law at the time stated that only men of ‘pure European descent’ could be commissioned as officers in the British Army. Despite this, Tull’s obvious leadership qualities were recognised and in 1917, he was trained and then commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, even though army regulations should have prohibited his promotion. That year he became the first man of black heritage to be commissioned as an officer leading men into battle in the British Army.

In December 2017 fighting on the Italian front he successfully led the 26 men under his command on 2 missions at the Battle of Piave and was mentioned in dispatches for his “gallantry and coolness”. On 17 April 1918, Lieutenant Pickard wrote to Tull’s Brother informing him that Walter had been recommended for the Military Cross, although he was never awarded the medal.

In 1918, 2nd Lieutenant Tull was transferred to the Western Front in France to help break through the German lines. On 25 March, 1918, during the second battle of the Somme he was ordered to lead his men on an attack on the German trenches at Favreuil. On entering ‘no-mans land‘, he was soon struck by a bullet and died.

He was 29 years old, unmarried and without children. His body was never found. His closest relative, elder brother Edward Tull was notified of his death as next-of-kin and today Walter Tull’s memory is preserved by Edward’s descendants.

It is wonderful to have had The Duke of Cambridge supporting this event today. He has been a superb ambassador for the sector, and his passion for the welfare of our armed forces, for young people and for the environment has given a huge boost to charities in the UK.

I would also like to offer my appreciation for everything that William Shawcross has done in his time as Chair.

It can be a difficult job, which involves making some courageous judgements. And William, you have certainly not shirked from making those.

William, you have greatly improved the standing of the Commission, preserved the independence of the sector and laid the foundations for the growth in strength and size which we will see for years to come.

You have been unafraid to identify the big challenges and then have acted to tackle them, bringing the sector with you. I have no doubt that British charities under your leadership are a bigger force for good than ever before.

I’m absolutely thrilled to be leading DCMS. The Department does many things but basically it’s the Department for the Things That Make Life Worth Living.

This means the arts, culture, sport, and also the ties that bind us in our communities; the charities, faith groups and neighbourhood projects that hold our society together.

It’s also the Department for Digital and for me this is equally crucial to the things that make life worth living. Tech isn’t just transforming the economy.

It’s changing how communities work and opening up new opportunities for our civil society to become yet more effective.

The same goes for innovations in finance – the new world of social impact investment, bringing new approaches and new forms of finance to tackle social problems.

We’re also seeing innovations in policy which push power and responsibility away from Whitehall and towards local communities, especially local mayors.

So I’m starting this job with a huge sense of possibility. I know from my five years as a minister across many departments that a charity is often better equipped to tackle a social problem than the government.

And I think there’s a huge amount more we can do in finding opportunities for government, civil society and business to work together.

The Charity Commission deserves major credit for developing this sense of possibility, despite tough times.

Six years ago the National Audit Office published a pretty tough review of your work and the then chair of the Public Accounts Committee questioned whether the Commission should be thrown on the bonfire.

Well, phoenix-like, under William’s leadership, you have risen – last year the NAO hailed ‘significant progress’, which coming from them is like a Nobel Prize.

I want to congratulate you for everything that you are doing to maintain the reputation, the independence and the success of the sector.

I also want to welcome the work of the Fundraising Regulator. Charities depend on public trust and it is right we challenge those few charities whose bad behaviour endangers the reputation of all.

The Fundraising Regulator is also working with other partners to develop simple guidance for small charities on the new GDPR data protection requirements, which I know some of you have questions about.

I believe we are on the path towards a more transparent charity sector with higher standards of integrity. And this is important. Because I see an opportunity for the sector to make a major step up in its role.

These improvements to governance and funding must continue. Because I want us to focus on our time ahead as an opportunity to work together and improve people’s lives.

Whether in public service or service through charities, that is what it’s all about. I believe to my core in the value of public service and the deep integrity of dedicating your working life to improve the lives of others.

This is what we do in government, both politicians and civil servants. And it’s what you do in the charitable sector, directly addressing some of the gravest challenges to the human condition and lifting the lives of people across the country and the world. I want this to be the focus of our work together.

I commend those charities that are working to fix problems and responding to need, usually on a small, local scale.

I also commend the charities which are playing a role in preventing social problems and not just fixing them.

This might be through setting the framework for action by other charities, the public sector and businesses. Or it could be bringing together everyone involved on an issue to coordinate their work, pool finance and agree common goals.

All charities that operate on the ground make a valuable contribution. Often the life-blood of our communities, I pledge today that I will always fight to protect and promote you. But I also want to see charities playing a strategic role in our social policy and practice.

Likewise, I want the Charity Commission not just to be known for challenging badly operating charities, as important as this is, but for actively supporting all charities to be the best that they can be.

My brilliant colleague Tracey Crouch has recently been appointed ministerial lead on loneliness and social isolation.

This is one of the most pressing social issues of our time, with research showing that nine million people say they always or often feel lonely.

I know that charities and civil society will play a crucial part in our cross-government strategy on loneliness. We are looking forward to working with you to develop and implement it.

Tracey also recently announced a review of civil society in the UK, with the objective of publishing a government strategy later this year.

We both see this as a major opportunity to set a new direction for UK civil society and to put charities centre-stage in local communities and public services.

This is of course not entirely new. Britain has a unique tradition of philanthropy and of social innovations which began through charitable activity.

Everything from hospitals and hospices to insurance and pensions have their roots in the independent initiative of individuals and communities, developing mutual solutions to the challenges of the time.

In 1948, William Beveridge followed his famous report on a new health and welfare system with another report called Voluntary Action. He saw the work of charities as vital to a strong and free society.

I could not agree more and I very much intend to maintain that tradition.

I’m looking forward to working with all of you to help our nation’s incredible charities to strengthen and grow.

I pledge that I will be by your side all the way.

Thank you very much.

Changes have been made to CCMS to help improve the quality of the online claims you make under the Family Advocacy Scheme (FAS).

The idea is to make it more likely that your claim will not be rejected, so avoiding the need for work to be resubmitted.

How will the changes work?

Improvements are being made to CCMS to enforce fee scheme rules for hearings claimed under FAS. These mean that it will no longer be possible to claim:

• FAS hearing and bolt-on activities within the same category of work
• above allowed amounts per case

An example would be where a claim for a third advocates’ bundle for an interim hearing is claimed. Where this happens CCMS will now display an error message and will not allow the bill to progress.

CCMS will also prevent issues such as claiming for:

• an interim hearing and final hearing advocates’ bundle on the same day
• over-claiming of Counsel conference fees

Check before claiming

Counsel and providers may need to check with another where court bundles are being claimed to ensure the correct information is entered.

In the event of issues, the first action should be to liaise with the instructed parties on a case. This is preferable to calling the Legal Aid Agency to check who has claimed the bundle.

Buying and selling your home without the need for paper deeds is one step closer today as the Government approves changes to the Land Registration Rules that will further enable digital land registration.

The changes, which will come into effect on 6 April 2018, are central to HM Land Registry’s ambition to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data which it outlines in its new Business Strategy 2017 to 2022.

Chief Executive and Chief Land Registrar Graham Farrant sets out the changes to the way HM Land Registry will provide services to its customers including allowing for fully digital conveyancing documents with e-signatures.

Working closely with its customers, and launching a public consultation on the changes last year, HM Land Registry plans to use digital technology to make conveyancing simpler, faster and cheaper while enhancing the integrity and security of the register against threats from cyber-attacks and digital fraud. The rule changes will allow HM Land Registry to introduce fully digital conveyancing documents such as mortgages and transfers, in response to customers’ needs.

Chief Executive and Chief Land Registrar Graham Farrant said:

Our customers are central to everything we do and we want to make dealing with us quicker and simpler by providing more services through digital technology. These changes are an important enabler for our digital transformation and I want to thank our customers for their positive responses to the consultation.

Changes were required to the Land Registration Rules 2003, with the revocation of the Land Registration (Electronic Conveyancing) Rules 2008 and the Land Registration (Proper Office) Order 2013, in order to allow HM Land Registry to continue with its digital transformation programme, and modernise and simplify its services.

The changes will benefit customers by allowing HM Land Registry to build new and more flexible statutory services that have been called for by the industry, and other electronic services will improve the assistance offered to them throughout the application process.

HM Land Registry will be contacting customers in the coming weeks to explain any changes that will affect the way they submit applications, though these are expected to be minimal, and will only affect a small number of customers.

Notes to editors

1. Read the Government response to the consultation for proposals to amend the Land Registration Rules 2003.

2. HM Land Registry’s mission is to guarantee and protect property rights in England and Wales.

3. HM Land Registry is a government department created in 1862. It operates as an executive agency and a trading fund and its running costs are covered by the fees paid by the users of its services. Its ambition is to become the world’s leading land registry for speed, simplicity and an open approach to data.

4. HM Land Registry safeguards land and property ownership worth in excess of £4 trillion, including around £1 trillion of mortgages. The Land Register contains more than 25 million titles showing evidence of ownership for some 85% of the land mass of England and Wales.

5. For further information about HM Land Registry visit www.gov.uk/land-registry.

6. Follow us: on Twitter @HMLandRegistry, our blog, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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