Story

Dame Adela Jemima Elizabeth Walker nee Irwin 1858 – 1940

Biography

Adela Jemima Elizabeth Irwin was born in Cork in 1858. She was the daughter of the Rev Arthur Huggins Irwin, of Napton, Warwickshire, and Augusta Isabella. Arthur and Augusta married in 1857 in Dublin. Augusta died in 1861, in Bengal, aged only 31.

Thomas Gordon Walker was the third child of the Rev Henry Walker and Eleanora Frances Julienne (nee Gordon). He became Assistant Commissioner in the Punjab, in 1872, and went on to be Lieutenant Governor in 1907. He retired in 1912, by then KCIE, CSI.

He married Adela in Umballa, Bengal, India in 1879. They went on to have 3 children, only 2 of whom survived. Son Alan Lachlan, born in Bengal in 1883, served in the Punjab Civil Service, married Dora Marguerite Chrestien in Worthing in 1905, died in Paris in 1934 and his ashes were interred in Heene Cemetery. His brother Robin Ernest was born in India in 1886 and died in 1972 in Cheltenham.

In the 1901 Scottish Census Thomas was living in Edinburgh with Adela, son Alan – a ‘Student in Arts’ – and 2 female servants.

In 1911 Thomas and Adela were living in Weybridge, Surrey with a Cook and 3 Housemaids.

Thomas died in 1917

In the 1932 Electoral Register, Adela, with James Stewart G Walker, were living in Haringey.

When Adela died, then of Glenallen, Parklands, Chichester, administration was given to Robert Ernest Gordon Walker, Schoolmaster. She was buried with her husband in the Cemetery.

Researcher: Liz Lane

Date of Death: 27/03/1940

Cause of death: Unknown

Address line 1: Canspus

Address line 3: St Botolph's Road

Town: Worthing

County: Sussex

Country: England

Obituary

No obituary has been entered.

Personal Effects

Money left to others: £4270 3 s 11 d

Current value of effects: Not calculated

1901

Living at 13 Mayfield Gardens, Edinburgh Mayfield, Scotland – Thomas G Waker, 51yrs, Indian Civil Service; Adela I Walker, 40yrs; Alan G Walker, 18yrs, Student in Art; Jessie Inrig, 30yrs, Cook; Fannie Fetter, 27yrs, Maid;

1911

Living at Pynecroft, St George’s Road, Weybridge – Sir Thomas Gordon Walker, 61yrs, Indian Civil Servant; Lady Adela Gordon Walker, 51yrs; Anne Byer, 49yrs, Cook; Gertrude Funnell, 23yrs, Housemaid; Emily Bond, 28yrs, Housemaid; Alice Allgrove, 19yrs, Housemaid;