Person

Stanley was the youngest of the eight sons of insurance manager Daniel Walker from Worcestershire and his Suffolk-born wife, Louisa. Born in South Shields on 16 September 1896, Stanley was baptised five weeks later. The family moved to Halifax when Stanley was four, where the Grand Insurance Company had its headquarters. This was where all the older boys found work as clerks, agents or cashiers. In autumn 1911, father Daniel sailed for Canada and settled in Fort William, Ontario where he had work lined up with the Reed Estate, and in August of the following year he was joined by his wife and four of their sons: Charles, Wilfred, Sidney and Stanley.

On 22 June 1916 Stanley enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in Port Arthur, named his mother as his next of kin and became Private 820831 of the 141st (Rainy River District) Battalion under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel D. C. McKenzie. The battalion embarked for England in April 1917 and arrived in Liverpool on 7 May 1917, where on arrival the battalion was absorbed into the 18th Reserve Battalion at Dibgate, near Folkestone, Kent.

Having been promoted to lance corporal, Stanley reverted to the ranks in order to be drafted to the 44th Battalion and travel with them to France. After time spent with the 4th Entrenching Battalion, Private Walker joined the 44th Battalion on 1 September 1917 in billets at Chateau de la Haie. However, as the Battalion was moving to the forward area that evening, the reinforcements were sent to the Brigade Training School instead until needed.

In January 1918, Private Walker was treated in hospital for four weeks with boils on his backs and arms. Six months later, he left the battalion temporarily for another four weeks on a wireless training course at Divisional HQ. By summer 1918, the 44th Battalion was outside Amiens, France. It was here on 11 August 1918 that 21-year-old Stanley Walker was shot in the back and died from his wounds in No. 44 Casualty Clearing Station.

Originally buried in the Asylum Cemetery, Amiens, Private Walker’s body was exhumed and reinterred in Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery, east of Amiens.

Civil Parish: South Shields

Birth date: 16-Sep-1896

Death date: 11-Aug-1918

Armed force/civilian: Army

Residence: South Shields (birthplace)
13 Clare Street, Halifax, Yorkshire (1901 census)
68 Hill Avenue, Leeds (1911 census)
1218 Victoria Avenue, Fort William, Ontario (enlistment papers)

Religion: Methodist

Employment: Student (enlistment papers)

Family: Parents: Daniel Walker, Louisa Walker nee Coan
Siblings: William J. Walker, Charles H. Walker, Daniel Walker, Ernest Walker, Percy Walker, Wilfred Walker, Sidney Walker

Military service:

Private 820831
141st Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
18th Reserve Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force
44th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force

Medal(s): British War Medal
Victory Medal

Memorial(s): Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery

Gender: Male

Contributed by Jean Longstaff, Durham