Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 3.djvu/586

 regiment (Sherwood Foresters), then at Rangoon, and on leaving the Buffs at Calcutta was given a rousing farewell by officers and men. In March 1875 he took the 45th regiment (Sherwood Foresters) to Bangalore, and on 24 May (Queen Victoria's birthday) was gazetted C.B. In August that year he was appointed a brigadier-general to command the Nagpore force, with headquarters at Ramptee. He vacated this command on 4 Nov. 1879, owing to promotion to major-general (11 Nov. 1878). On 22 Nov. 1879 he proceeded to England. In October 1882 he received the reward for distinguished service, and on 1 April 1883 was appointed to the command of the 1st brigade at Aldershot. From 1 April 1884 to 1 April 1888 he was in command of the infantry at Gibraltar. On 16 Dec. 1888 he became lieut.-general, and general on 15 Feb. 1893. He retired 1 April 1893, and on 3 June following was appointed K.C.B. On 27 Sept. 1900 he was nominated to the command ot the 45th Sherwood Foresters.

Walker died at Arlington Rectory, near Barnstaple, on 18 July 1902, and was buried at Folkestone. He married on 6 June 1881 Catharine, daughter of Robert Bruce Chichester, barrister-at-law, of Arhngton, Devon, brother of Sir John Palmer Bruce Chichester, first baronet, of Arlington (cr. 1840); she survived him. An oil painting, painted in Rome in 1891 (by Signor Giove, 300 Via del Corso), was bequeathed to the Buffs, subject to Lady Walker's life interest. A small oil painting is in the library of the United Service Club in Pall Mall. A memorial tablet is in the nave of Canterbury Cathedral.

 WALKER, SAMUEL, first baronet (1832–1911), lord chancellor of Ireland, born at Gore Port, Finea, co. Westmeath, on 19 June 1832, was second of the three sons of Captain Alexander Walker of Gore Port. His eldest brother was General Sir Mark Walker [q. v. Suppl. II for fuller family details]. Walker was educated at Arlington House, PortarUngton, a celebrated school whose headmaster, the Rev. John Ambrose Wall, anticipated for him a brilliant university career. Walker matriculated in Trinity College, Dublin, in 1849, and was throughout the best man of his year in the classical schools, winning a scholarship in 1851, a year before the usual time, and graduating B.A. in 1854 as first senior moderator in classics and the large gold medallist. He was called to the Irish bar in Trinity term 1855.

Walker quickly attained a large practice both in equity and at the common law side, and went the home circuit. He was neither a fluent nor an attractive speaker, but his profound knowledge of law and penetration of motive, combined with his shrewd common sense, rendered him invaluable in consultation. An efficient cross-examiner, he impressed juries by his grasp of the salient points of a case, and was more successful as a verdict-getter than more brilliant advocates. He took silk on 6 July 1872, At the inner bar Walker increased his reputation, and rapidly came to the very front rank of the leaders. He attained the zenith of his fame at the bar in the state trial of Parnell in 1881, when, owing to the illness of his leader, Francis MacDonagh, Q.C., who had been counsel for O'Connell in 1844, the responsibility for the defence mainly devolved on Walker. The trial ended in a disagreement of the jury and a virtual triumph for the traversers.

In Trinity term 1881 Walker was appointed a bencher of the King's Inns. He was made solicitor-general for Ireland on 19 Dec. 1883, when Andrew Porter, the attorney-general, was made master of the rolls. Walker had always been a liberal in politics, and he now (Jan. 1884) entered the House of Commons unopposed as one of the members for the county of Londonderry — to flu the seat vacated by Porter. He had been an enthusiastic upholder of the tenants' side in the land controversy, which had reached an acute stage. Entering the House of Commons as a law officer of the crown, and sitting by virtue of his office on the treasury bench, Walker was somewhat embarrassed by the abrupt change from the law courts of Dublin to the prominent parliamentary position in which his ministerial office at once placed him. But his knowledge of the world came to his aid. He spoke only when compelled to do so, and then briefly and to the point. His dry humour rendered him quite equal to the ordeal of parliamentary interrogation. When Sir George Trevelyan, who was chief secretary to the lord lieutenant, broke down in health in 1884 owing to the strain of the Irish office. Walker as solicitor-general 