Life
1618-1690; b. prob. Co. Tyrone [poss. Stratford-upon-Avon]; son
of George Walker of Yorkshire who was appt. Chancellor of Armagh through
infl. of his wife, Ursula Stanhope [see Earls of Chesterfield]; ed. prob.
Glasgow Univ.; m. Isabella Maxwell of Finebrogue; held parishes of Lissan,
Desterlyn and and Donoghmore [Donoughmore], 1669; raised regiment in Dungannon
and visited Lundy in Derry, 1688-69; stationed at Omagh; reached Derry
after evacuation of Dungannon; made joint-Governor with Major Henry Baker,
on the flight of Lundy, 19 April; charged with commissariat; house saved
from rough handling by intervention of Baker when his private house stock
of ‘beer, mum, and butter’ was raided by an irate crowd whom
Baker quietened; shared governorship with Michelburne on death of Baker;
kept diary of events subsequently issued A True Account of the Siege
of Londonderry (1689); sent to London to report to king and parliament
and carried loyal address to King William in London; honoured at Glasgow
and Edinburgh; raised £16,000 for relief and repair of city muniments;
meets William III at Barnet, nr. London; preferred by William to bishopric
of Derry during life of incumbent; returned to Ireland via Dublin; fought
at the Boyne before taking up his see; said to have died from a shot through
the body when going to the assistance of Gen. Schomberg at the Boyne passage
(‘What took him there?’ said William III); bur. on battle-field
but latter reinterred by his widow; his Account, attributing the
central role in the defence of Derry to himself, was hotly disputed by
Rev. John MacKenzie in his Narrative of the Seige of Londonderry
(1690), charging him with overlooking the actions of the Presbyterians
and pretending to the rank of Governor; Walker replied in Champion
Foyl’d [or] Vindication (1689), purporting to be the witness
of a friend though actually by himself, while Dr. John Vesey supplied
The False Libel (1690) in his defence; the Account translated
into several European languages; Walker is the chief villain of John Banim’s
The Boyne Water (1826) and a central character in John Buckstone’s
Relief of Londonderry (1831), as well as ‘that holy man of
Bible and bullet’ in J. S. le Fanu’s The Fortunes of Colonel
Torlogh O’Brien (1847); a contemporary portrait was made by Sir
Godfrey Kneller on the king’s command in London; the 90 ft. "Walker
Monument", on which he holds a bible and pointing out across the
Foyle, was erected in 1828 and blown up by IRA in 1973; prominently featured
in Ulster Museum "Kings" exhibition, 1990. RR
DNB DIB OCIL
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Works
True Account of the Siege of London-Derry (London: Robert
Clavel & Ralph Simpson 1689), 4o; Vindication ... [&c.]
(London: Clavel & Simpson 1689); Nicholas Bernard and George Walker
[respect.], The Whole Proceedings of the Siege of Drogheda to Which
is Added a True Account of the Siege of Londonderry (Dublin: printed
by R. Reilly on Cork Hill for S. Hyde bookseller Dame Street M.DCC XXXVI),
178pp. See also John Vesey, Mr McKenzye’s Narrative Of The Siege
Of London Derry, A False Libel, in Defence of Dr. G. Walker, Written by
His Friend in His Absence (London 1690).
Reprint Editions, Philip Dwyer, ed. The Siege of Londonderry in 1689 : As Set Forth in the Literary Remains of George Walker (London: Stock, 1893); Do., (Derry: James Hempton 1895), 103pp, viz., Account &c. [rep. of 1689 edn.], 63pp., with Vindication, pp.67-83 and notes [by Dwyer], pp.117-249; Do., new intro. by E. R. R. Green, Philip Dwyer, ed., (Belfast: QUB/IIS 1971); Do., intro. by E.R.R. Green, Philip Dwyer, ed., (Wakefield: S.R. Publishers, 1971), vii,[1],255pp., 5 plates (1fold), illus, geneal table, map, ports.
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Criticism
Richard Ryan, Biographia Hibernica, Irish Worthies (1821), Vol.
II, pp.617-20.
Thomas Witherow, Derry and Enniskillen in the Year 1689 [1873] (4th edn. Belfast: William Mullan 1913).
W. S. Kerr, Walker of Derry (for the author 1938), ills. [nifra]
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Notes
Thomas Witherow, Derry and
Enniskillen in the Year 1689 [orig. pref. 1873] (4th edn. Belfast:
William Mullan 1913); ‘The Jacobite army did not upon the whole behave
in a very cruel or discreditable manner, considering the power in their
hands and the amount of provocation they received’ [362]; ‘No
massacre [such as might have] took place’ [363]; ‘Walker blew
his own horn ... designedly shuffles Mitchelburne aside’; ‘The
False Libel attributed to Dr John Vesey, from Coleraine [became Anglican
minister] whom Walker had as friend in London, and whose encouragement
dictated the form of the True Account.’
‘Mr Walker easily saw the Danger of this, and finding it
was occasioned by Discourses of Mr Cole, he ordered him immediately to
be confined; and being examined, he unriddles the Mystery, and gave all
people satisfaction, so that they remained in no more doubt about their
Governor.’ (p.146.) (Account of the Siege of Londonderry,
extacted from The Whole Proceedings of the Siege of Drogheda to Which
is Added a True Account of the Siege of Londonderry, by Nicholas Bernard
and George Walker [respect.] (Dublin: printed by R Reilly on Cork Hill
for S Hyde bookseller Dame Street M.DCC XXXVI), 178pp., of which Part
II (from p.108) is Account of the Siege of Londonderry [1689],
by the Rev. Mr George Walker, Rector of Donoghmoore [sic] in the County
of Tyrone and late Governor of Derry in Ireland, Dublin MDDCCXXXVI). Note:
Hyde’s booklist comprises some 50 titles incl. Irish Historical Library,
Clarendon’s History, Old Irish Statutes.
‘Letter dedicatory to William and Mary’: ‘[...] safety of those Protestants, whom the fury of the Papists drove into Londonderry’. Text, ‘a true account of the present state of Ireland’, being a letter [with papers] from one lately arrived with difficulty from Dublin, pp.85-104, ending with note referring to ‘Apology [which] discovered so much ignorance, malice, and falsehood that it is not worth the notice’; A Sermon, to the text ‘the Sword of the Lord of Gideon’ (Judges, 7:20), preached at end of siege and printed London and Edinburgh [here pp.105-116]; refers to ‘popish cruelty in the poor Kingdom of Ireland ... anno 1641 ... Hellish rage and the natural cruelty of the Papist, they by inhuman torments massacred no less than 200,000 English Protestants of all sexes, in so much that the dead bodies, not being suffered by the Priests to be buried, created a contagion and in some measure took revenge on the murderers ... rape, deflowerment ... etc.’ (Diary of Siege in 1688-89, ed. Philip Dwyer, Derry: James Hempton 1895, pp.117-249.) [Concludes with notes by Dwyer.]
Dictionary of National Biography
gives dates as 1618-1690; son of George Walker, of Yorkshire, made chancellor
of Armagh through infl. of his wife, Ursula Stanhope; b. prob. Co. Tyrone
though some say Stratford-upon-Avon (Ware, Irish Writers, ed.,
Harris; Wood, Life, ed. Clark, iii, p.327); ed. Glasgow (name not
recorded in Muniments); m. Isabella Maxwell of Finebrogue; parishes
of Lissan and Desterlyn, 1669; Donghmore, nr. Dungannon, 1674; church
rased in civil war; built large thatched cottage, 1683; visited London
1686; raised regt. at Dungannon and visited Lundy in Derry, winter 1688-89;
Lundy evacuates Dungannon, Walker stationed in Omagh; reaches Derry and
with difficulty enters; Lundy’s escape connived in, 19 April; Walker
joint-gov. with Baker, rank of Col. over 900 men, though chiefly in charge
of Commissariat; records that the Presbyterian ministers ‘kept the
people very obedient and quiet’; Baker ill, appoints Michelburne,
who shares Governorship with Walker on Baker’s death; after the siege,
Walker carries loyal address to King William in London; at Glasgow and
Edinburgh honoured; met [King] at Barnet near London; honoured and granted
moneys; made bishop of Derry though the incumbent (to be translated) still
living for some months; returned to Ireland via Dublin; fell at the Boyne
river passage, the King reputedly saying ‘What took him there?’ (though other accounts say not, and that he went to the help of Schomberg
when wounded); buried there, but his bones later transfer to another grave
and church by his widow [unless other bones]; a monument raised in Derry
1828, with his statue, holding a bible and point out to Lough Foyle; True
Account, in diary form, 3 edns. from Sept. 1689; trans. German (Hamburg)
and Dutch (Antwerp) [BL; Mackenzie’s answer in the Narrative goes
so far as to say that Walker was not governor at all; does not name Presbyterian
ministers whom he says took a larger part than acknowledged; Walker omits
giving credit to Murray and others who acted heroically; BIBL, Philip
Dwyer (Siege, 1893); Thomas Witherow DD, Derry and Enniskillen
in the Year 1689 (3rd edn. 1885).]
R. F. Foster, Modern Ireland (London: Allen Lane 1988), gives bio-note: b. Co. Tyrone, ed. Glasgow, rector of Donoughmore, 1674; raised regt. at Dungannon, 1688; joint-Gov. of Derry with Major Henry Baker on deposition of Lundy. Received as hero in London after raising the siege. True Account (1690) provoked alternative versions. Died at b. of Boyne before taking up bishopric of Londonderry.
Hyland Books (Cat.; Dec. 1996) lists Phillip Dwyer, Siege of Derry in 1689 as Set Forth in the Literary Remains of ... George Walker, with new intro. by E. R. R. Green [1st iss. 1971; but note err. given Green’s obit. 1958] [Hyland 219; 1995]. Siege of Londonderry in 1689, As Set Forth in the Litererary Remains of George Walker (1893); W. S. Kerr, Walker of Derry (for the author 1938), ills.
Belfast Linen Hall Library holds a literature surrounding the True Account, incl. Apology for the failures charged on the Rev. George Walker’s printed account of the late Siege of Derry in a letter to the Undertaker of a more accurate narrative of the Siege.
University of Ulster Library holds Rev. Phillip Dwyer, ed., Siege of Derry 1689/1893, with Vindication (Stock 1893); facs. Account, 2nd ed. (London: Clavel and Simpson 1689), and Vindication (Clavel & Simpson 1689), MOR DA945; Do., new intro. E. R. R. Green, (Wakefield 1907), vii [1], 255, 5 pl., 1 fold. ill; genealogical table, maps, ports; facs. of Stock ed. 1893; also facs. 1971 for Institute of Irish Studies, COL DA945; Walker, Diary of Siege in 1688-89 (Derry: James Hempton 1895), 103pp, rep. from A True Account (London: Robert Clavel & Ralph Simpson 1689), MOR DA945. Walker, Diary of Siege in 1688-89 (Derry: James Hempton 1895), 103pp, rep. from A True Account (London: Robert Clavel & Ralph Simpson 1689), MOR DA945. Also, John MacKenzie ?1648-1696, Memorial of the Siege of Derry [and] its Vindication, with intro. and notes by W. D. Killen (Belfast & London: Aitchison, Hamilton, Adams, 1861), facs. of A Narrative of the Siege of London-derry to rectify the mistakes and supply the omissions of ‘Mr Walker’s Account’ and ‘Dr Walker’s invisible champion foil’d, or an app[endix] to the late narrative of the Siege of Derry’, MAGEE, Irish I/670.
University of Ulster Library (Morris Collection) holds reprint of Walker’s Diary of the Siege of Derry in 1688-89 (Derry 1887, 1907); The Siege of Londonderry in 1689 ... as set forth in the literary remains of George Walker [ed. Dwyer] (1893).
Marsh’s Library, Dublin, holds a copy of True Account of the Siege of London-Derry (London: Robert Clavel & Ralph Simpson 1689), 4o [Wing W350].
Note variant life dates: 1618-1690 &?1645-1690 (UULib. Catalogue),
and 1618 (DNB).
A portrait of Walker in oil by an unknown hand is held in the National Portrait Gallery (UK). See Anne Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, Irish Portraits Exhibition (Ulster Museum 1965).
Walker appears as an inset (left upper) in the tapestry of the Relief of Londonderry in the Irish House of Lords (now Bank of Ireland), College Green; he is also a character in Banim’s Boyne Water; note also that a medal of Walker was struck by William Stephen Mossop for the for Prentice Boys Club.
E. E. R. Green, ed., facs. rep. Irish Studies Institute (1971). Note that the narrative is in the third person; the Vindication, purporting to be by one who can say, ‘I have been so often with Mr Walker ... &c.,’ [1], is plainly by him also. True Account [Diary], pp.11-63; Vindication, pp.69-104; Sermon, pp.105-116.
James Cahalan, Great Hatred, Little Room, The Irish Historical Novel (Syracuse UP/Gill 1983), George Walker, the chief villain of The Boyne Water [by John Banim], is for [J. S.] le Fanu in The Fortunes of Colonel Torlogh O’Brien, A Tale of the Wars of King James (M’Glashen 1847), ‘that holy man of Bible and bullet’. (p.75)
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)