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William WALKER (1831–1895)
His wife Mrs Anne WALKER, née Ashton (1830–1909)
Their daughter Georgina Anne WALKER (1864–1875)
St Paul section: Row 25, Grave E12 [St Paul ref. K.21]

William Walker was born at Witley, Surrey in 1831. He was the son of Thomas Walker.

Ann Ashton was born at Woolfardisworthy near Clovelly in Devon on 19 September 1830 and baptised at Clovelly on 14 February 1831. She was the daughter of the agricultural labourer John Ashton and Grace Short. At the time of the 1841 census Ann (11) was living at Sitworthy in Clovelly with her parents and younger brother John (9).

On 8 April 1860 at Christ Church in Marylebone, William Walker married Ann Ashton. They were both then living at Henry Street in that parish, and William was working as a brickmaker.

At the time of the 1861 census William (29) was working as a brickmaker and was lodging with the blacksmith John Sawyer at Wheatley: his wife is hard to find. By August that year they were living in Summertown just to the north of Oxford.

They had the following children

• John Spiring Walker, known as Jack (born in Summertown on 18 August 1861, and baptised there on 19 October)
• William Thomas Walker (born at Bude, Cornwall on 20 March 1863 and baptised three years later at Aston on 12 August 1866)
• Georgina Annie Walker (born at Aston near Bampton on 9 August 1864 and baptised there two years later 12 August 1866)
• Cosmo Walker (born at Aston near Bampton on 26 July 1866 and baptised there on 12 August 1866)
• Frederick William Walker (born at Aston near Bampton on 9 July 1868)
• Harry Ernest Walker (born at Adelaide Street, Oxford on 13 June 1872).

By the time their next son was born in 1863 they had moved from Summertown to Bude in Cornwall.

By 1864 they were back in Oxfordshire, and George Walker was an innkeeper at Aston, near Bampton. They had three of their children baptised at the same time at Aston Church on 12 August 1866.

By the time of the 1871 census William Walker had gone back to working as a brickmaker and was living at Childrey in Berkshire with his wife Ann and their children John (9), William (8), Georgina (6), Cosmo (4), and Frederick (2).

By 1873 they were back in Oxford, and in 1875 they were living in Adelaide Street at 1 Witley Villas (presumably named after William's birth place).

Their only daughter Georgina died in 1875:

† Georgina Anne Walker died at Adelaide Street at the age of 10 on 2 February 1875 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 5 February (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

At the time of the 1881 census William (49) described himself as a publican and was paying a visit to Frederick Walker (47), a railway guard who lived in Godalming; his wife is hard to find. Five of their children were at home on their own at 47 Observatory Street: John (19), who was a printer and described as the head of the household; William (17), who was a gardener; Cosmo (14), who was an errand boy; and Frederick (12) and Harry (8), who were at school.

By 1885 the family had moved to 13 Kingston Road (on the corner of Longworth Road, right), which was then still in Ss Philip & James's parish. William ran an off-licence and greengrocer's shop there.

Three of their sons were married in the 1880s:

• On 20 April 1885 at Ss Philip & James's Church, Oxford, John Spiring Walker, described as a compositor of Kingston Road, married Florence Mary Godfrey (25) of Ship Street, the daughter of Henry Godfrey, late college servant;
• On 30 May 1887 at the Headington district registration office in the Cowley Road, Cosmo Walker married Beatrice Emily Liddell of St Clement's;
• On 15 September 1888 at St Michael's Church, Oxford, William Thomas Walker (25), described as a shopkeeper, married Martha Ellen Rogers (24) of Ss Philip & James's parish, the daughter of the blacksmith James Rogers.

At the time of the 1891 census William Walker (59), described as a beer retailer and fruiterer, was living over the shop at 13 Kingston Road with his wife Annie (60) and their sons Frederick (22) and Harry (18), who were both described as fruiterers. They also had a lodger, and employed a 13-year-old servant girl.

William Walker died in 1895:

† William Walker died at 13 Kingston Road at the age of 64 on 27 June 1895 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 1 July (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

His death notice in Jackson's Oxford Journal read simply: “June 27, at 13, Kingston-road, Oxford, William Walker.” His effects came to £376, and his wife Annie was his executor. He was described in his probate record as a victualler and greengrocer.

His son Frederick took over his shop.

Two of his sons were married in the 1890s:

• On 4 April 1896 in London, at St Barnabas's Church, St Pancras, London, Frederick William Walker married Lilian Roux;
• On 14 February 1898 at St Giles's Church, Oxford, Harry Ernest Walker, who was a Lay Clerk at Christ Church Cathedral living with his mother at 79 Plantation Road, married Veta Castilia Green of Wellington Square, the daughter of the deceased stationmaster George Green.

In 1901 Mrs Annie Walker (72) was still living at 79 Plantation Road, and her son John (39), who had lost his wife and was working as a compositor, had come with his two children to live with her.

Mrs Anne Walker died in 1909:

† Mrs Anne Walker née Ashton died at 23 Southmoor Road at the age of 79 on 9 December 1909 and was buried at St Sepulchre’s Cemetery on 13 December (burial recorded in the parish register of St Paul's Church).

Her effects came to £1,008 15s. 6d., and her executors were her son John Spiring Walker and the grocer Alfred Maycock.

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Surviving children of William & Anne Walker

• John Spiring Walker, known as Jack (born 1861) was working as a printer and living at 49 St Bernard's Road (then called St John's Road) in Oxford with his wife Florence and their children Cyril (4) and Ophelia (1). By 1901 his wife was dead and he was living with his mother and two children at 79 Plantation Road. On 28 July 1904 at the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Walton Street he married his second wife Edith Clara Harris. In 1911 John (49) was working as a compositor at the Clarendon Press and living at 3 Leckford Road with Edith (34) and their children Frank (5), and Lilian (3), plus Ophelia (21) from his first marriage. John Spiring Walker died at 2 Leckford Road on 7 February 1937.
• William Thomas Walker (born 1863) was an assistant at a gasworks in 1891 and living at Turnpike Road, Laleham, Middlesex with his wife Martha and their children Georgina (1) and Annie (two days). He then disappears from the censuses, and may be the Willilam Thomas Walker who died at Guildford at the age of 35 near the end of 1898.
• Cosmo Walker (born 1867) worked as a journalist, and his wife Beatrice began their married life in Oxford. Their only child Ernest Ashton Walker was born at 33 Juxon Street on 5 January 1889 and baptised at St Paul's Church on 24 February. By 1891 Cosmo (24) and Beatrice (25) were living at Northfield End, Henley with Ernest (2). In 1901 Cosmo was boarding at 11 South Street, Finsbury, London. In 1911 Cosmo (43) was a newspaper editor, living in Brecon with his wife. Cosmo was living at 77 High Street, Marlborough at the time of his death in a nursing home there on 29 May 1928. His effects came to £739 1s. 4d., and his executors were his widow Beatrice and his son Ernest, who was now a poultry farmer.
• Frederick William Walker (born 1868) initially continued to run his father's shop at 13 Kingston Road, and lived there with his wife Lilian. Their first son Frederick Harry Walker was born in Oxford in 1897, but by the time their next son Harry William Walker was born in 1899, they were living in Camberwell, London. At the time of the 1901 census Frederick (33) was a manager-cum-salesman for a fruiterer, living at 105 Trinity Road, Wimbledon with his wife Lilian (26) and their sons Frederick (4) and Harry (1). Their next son John Herbert Ashton Walker was born in Streatham in 1903; their daughter Lilian Walker in Mitcham in 1907; and their daughter Edith Daisy Walker in Streatham in 1909. In 1911 Frederick was a newsagent living at 28 Kettering Street, Streatham with his wife and five children. Their son Frederick Harry Walker was killed in the First World War on 28 September 1918. Frederick William Walker died at Wolsey Drive, Walton-on-Thames on 26 May 1945. His effects came to £4,247 8s. 6d., and his wife Lilian was his executor.
• Harry Ernest Walker (born 1872) was aged 28 in 1901, living at 36 Plantation Road with his wife Veta (27). Veta died in 1903 at the age of 29. Near the end of 1908 in Oxford, Harry married his second wife Mrs Esther Hopcroft, née Stevens. At the time of the 1911 census George, who was still a lay clerk at Christ Church Cathedral, was living at 16 Southmoor Road with his wife Esther and their son Cosmo George Archibald Walker (1) and his widowed mother-in-law Mrs Martha Stevens.