Calls are growing for a new statue to be created in honour of a black British war hero, Walter Tull.

The first black British officer to lead white troops into battle, Walter Tull abandoned a promising career in football to join the British army when the First World War broke out.

Campaigners want a statue of Walter Tull erected on the white cliffs of Dover in his honour, the Telegraph reports.

A distant cousin of Tull?s Simon Coombe, 75, told the newspaper that he had broken through prejudice to become both a successful footballer and army officer.

Tull's father was the son of a slave who arrived in Britain from Barbados in 1876 and married a local girl in Folkestone. The couple had six children, including Walter, who was born in April 1888.

Walter trained as a printer and was a keen footballer, becoming the second black man to play professional football in Britain when he was discovered by a scout for Tottenham Hotspur.

Having joined the 1st Football Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, Tull's leadership skills were soon noticed and he was promoted to sergeant, taking part in the Somme offensive in July 1916.

Sergeant Tull was recommended for further promotion and sent to an officer training school at Gailes, Scotland, receiving his commission as a lieutenant in May 1917, despite military regulations forbidding "any person of colour" from becoming an officer.

Lieutenant Walter Tull led his men at the Battle of Piave and was praised for his attitude under fire. He died a hero in 1918 when he was fatally wounded during an attack on the German trenches at Favreuil on the Western Front.