174 OBITUARV NOTICES. 



temperament and ancestry, he knew deeply and intimately the struggle 

 between the new and old forms of faith, and was full of wise sympathy for 

 those passing through phases of intellectual and spiritual doubt. 



" He was born on March 14th, 1833, and his boyhood was spent at 

 Northampton, at a time when the regular appearance of the green-covered 

 numbers of Dickens' earlier novels began to loom as large as those of Scott's 

 on the mental horizon of the schoolboy. In early youth he came to London, 

 and laid up vivid memories of the acting of Phelps in Shakespearean tragedy 

 at Sadler's Wells. But social and educational movements soon made an 

 imperative claim upon his heart, and for forty-five years he devoted the best 

 of his leisure and energy to the promotion of scientific knowledge and culture, 

 especially among the young and those deprived of collegiate advantages. He 

 threw himself heartily into the work of the Early Closing Association, of 

 which he was for some years secretary, and at the same time pioneered the 

 Saturday Half-Holiday movement in the direction of natural history and 

 archaeological research. His little volume, Saturday Afternoon Rambles Round 

 London, is a delightful memorial of some of the first excursions of this kind. 

 He mastered the geology, botany, and entomology of London and the home 

 counties, kept pace with every step of modern astronomy, the exploration of 

 Egypt, and many other departments of antiquarian lore. He was one of the 

 most popular conductors of natural history excursions, or, indeed of visitors 

 to any shrine sanctified by the beauty of nature, or the history of the past. 

 In 1874 he came to this neighbourhood to take up the editorship of the 

 Baystvater Chronicle, which he only relinquished within a few months of his 

 death. He founded the West Loudon Scientific Association and Field Club, 

 lectured frequently at clubs and institutes of all denominations, and took an 

 unflagging interest in every development of municipal life. He rejoiced in the 

 progress of the education of women, and their entrance into the higher 

 scholarship and science. Himself a staunch Gladstonian in politics, feeling, 

 too, strong sympathies with collectivist ideals, he never failed in justice or 

 courtesy to the representatives of other political creeds, and was always 

 ready to find common ground with them in any scheme for the benefit of the 

 helpless and oppressed. He was a Fellow of the Geological Society and a 

 member of the Essex Field Club, and was for many years on the Council of 

 Westbourne Park Institute. In 1880 his vigorous crusade in the colunms of 

 this paper against a well-known gambling saloon in Monmouth Road, which 

 had entrapped many inexperienced young men in business in the district, 

 landed him in a criminal prosecution for libel, which formed a memorable 

 and interesting episode in his career. It resulted in the complete triumph 

 and vindication of the journalist and the abolition of the nuisance in question. 

 A presentation was afterwards made to Mr. Walker by residents in the neigh- 

 bourhood in recognition of his public-spirited action. For the past two years 

 he had gradually failed iu health, and he passed away at an early hour on 

 Tuesday morning, in the presence of his wife and daughter." 



To a later issue of the same journal, the Rev. Dr. Clifford communicated 

 some interesting reminiscences with which we may conclude this notice of 

 our deeply regretted member: — 



