THE first black officer in the British Army will be remembered on a set of coins released by the Royal Mint as part of commemorations of the centenary of the First World War.
Kent-born Walter Tull, who was promoted to the rank of Second Lieutenant despite a ban on black officers being given the status, died in battle in 1918.
The coin, featuring a portrait of the officer with a backdrop of soldiers going "over the top", will be one of a set of six £5 coins to remember the sacrifice made by so many during the war.
Other coins in the first set, released as part of a five-year programme, include depictions of troops leaving for France and those working on the Home Front. Subsequent issues will cover key battles and the stories of heroes, such as Walter Tull.
Shane Bissett, the Royal Mint's director of commemorative coin, medals and bullion, said the coins will capture "the emotive journey from outbreak to armistice".
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article