Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 59.djvu/61

 the 15th the passage of the Finn was forced at Cladyford, Lundy fled to Londonderry, and the gates were shut in Walker's face. The next day, he says, ‘we got in with much difficulty, and some violence upon the sentry’ (True Account). Walker certainly believed Lundy to be a traitor; but this was hard to prove, and he had King William's commission. His escape on 19 April was therefore connived at, Walker and Baker becoming joint-governors. The commissariat was Walker's special department, but he had the rank of colonel and a regiment of nine hundred men under him. ‘There were,’ he says, ‘eighteen clergymen in the town of the communion of the church who, in their turns, when they were not in action, had prayers and sermons every day; the seven nonconforming ministers were equally careful of their people, and kept them very obedient and quiet’ (ib.) John Mackenzie (1648?–1696) [q. v.] acted as chaplain to the presbyterians of Walker's own regiment. It was arranged that the church people should use the cathedral in the morning, and the nonconformists in the afternoon.

In the sally of 21 April Walker relieved Murray, whom he saw surrounded by the ‘enemy, and with great courage laying about him’ (ib.) A few days later he had himself a narrow escape, being treacherously fired on while going to meet a flag of truce. Baker, falling ill in June, made John Michelborne [q. v.] his deputy, and when he died the latter remained joint-governor with Walker to the end of the siege. His conduct met with some criticism. Mackenzie charges him with too great subservience to Kirke. It was known that the Jacobites were making great efforts to buy him, and some saluted him in the streets by the titles he was supposed to wish for (True Account, 2 July). It was reported that he had secreted provisions, but his house was searched at his own suggestion and the calumny disproved. Mackenzie accuses him of having preached a disheartening sermon just before the end of the siege, but his extant sermons and speeches are most inspiriting. The town was relieved by water on 28 July. Walker resigned his office into the hands of Kirke, who allowed him to name a new colonel for his regiment. He named Captain White, who had done good service during the siege. Michelborne was made sole governor by Kirke.

The rescued garrison adopted a loyal address, which was entrusted to Walker, and he sailed from Lough Foyle on 9 Aug. (, Diary). This mission to England is some proof of the estimation in which he was held. He landed in Scotland, and received the freedom of Glasgow and Edinburgh on 13 and 14 Aug. (, p. 303). On his way south he halted at Chester, where Scravenmore received him with open arms (cf., p. 133 n.) He was in London a few days later, some admirers going as far as Barnet to welcome him. On 20 Aug., before his arrival, the Irish Society appointed a deputation to wait on him with thanks for his services, and later he was entertained at dinner (Concise View of the Irish Society). On 6 Sept. he attended the society to represent that most of the houses in Londonderry were down, and to ask for help; 1,200l. was voted by the city companies for immediate relief of the houseless people (ib.) Walker presented the Londonderry address to the king in person at Hampton Court, and William gave him an order for 5,000l., remarking that this was no payment, and that he considered his claims undiminished (, chap. xv.). The money was paid next day ({{sc|Luttrell}, Diary, 25 Aug.). ‘It seemed,’ said a contemporary writer, ‘as if London intended him a public Roman triumph, and the whole kingdom to be actors and spectators of the cavalcade’ (, p. 270). Portraits of him were scattered broadcast. ‘The king,’ wrote Tillotson on 19 Sept., ‘besides his first bounty to Mr. Walker, whose modesty is equal to his merit, hath made him bishop of Londonderry (sic), one of the best bishoprics in Ireland … it is incredible how everybody is pleased’ (, Letters, ed. 1801). Ezekiel Hopkins [q. v.] was still bishop of Derry, but it was intended to translate him, and Walker was named as his successor (, Life, iii. 209). There were doubts about his willingness to accept a mitre (ib.) Hopkins died three weeks before Walker, who was thus actually bishop-designate only for that time. On 18 Nov. a petition from Walker was presented to the House of Commons, setting forth the case of two thousand persons made widows and orphans by the siege. He asked nothing for himself. Next day he was called in and received the thanks of the house. Speaker Powle informed him that an address had been voted to the king for 10,000l. to relieve the sufferers, and desired Walker to give the thanks of the house to those who had fought with him, ‘when those to whose care it was committed did most shamefully if not perfidiously desert the place’ (‘Commons' Journal’ in, p. 113 n.) On 8 Oct. Walker was made D.D. at Cambridge, ‘juxta tenorem regii præcepti,’ but it is uncertain whether he was present (, Life, iii. 312; , p. 113 n.) He visited Oxford on his way to Ireland, and the