Walter Daniel John Tull was born in Folkestone, Kent in 1888.

His father Daniel Tull was born in Barbados and came to Britain in 1876, settling in Folkestone. Daniel was a carpenter and joiner.

Anna Tull ⁽²⁾ was Daniel’s mother and according to family history she was born a slave. After Daniel moved to Folkestone she kept in contact with him by letter and two of her letters survive, one dated 1878 ⁽³⁾ and the other 1883 ⁽⁵⁾. She also sent him a photograph of herself ⁽²⁾.

Daniel wrote a short journal dated 1877 ⁽¹⁾. This describes something of his earlier years in Barbados and St Lucia. It also records the birth of his children, later in his life.

Around 1880 Daniel married a local woman, Alice Palmer. There is a studio photo of Alice ⁽⁷⁾, who was a farm worker’s daughter. Alice’s mother wrote to Daniel welcoming him into the family ⁽⁴⁾.

Daniel and Alice had six children:

Bertha, who was born in 1881 but died in infancy

William, who was born in 1882

Cecilia, who was born in 1884

Edward, who was born in 1886

Walter, who was born in 1888

Elsie, who was born in 1891

Edward, our grandfather, kept many of the family papers, letters, newspaper cuttings and cards, as well as letters from Walter, which make up this archive.

^(a) Numbers in brackets refer to items held within the Walter Tull Archive