Private Thomas Walker
Number: 9399
Company: 46 (Belfast) Company, 13th Battalion
ENLISTMENT
Date: 8 January 1900
Place: Belfast
Age: 26 years 7 months
Trade of calling: Sea captain
Place of birth: Parish Newry, Town Newry, County Down
Family: Father Abraham Walker, milling merchant, Newry. Mother Mary Walker, brother Abraham Redmond, both of Roseneath, Newry. Sister Annie Walker, of Rostrevor.
Previous military service: No
Description: Height 5' 6 1/2". Complexion fresh, eyes grey, hair brown. Tattoo snake, sailor, left forearm.
Religion: Church of England
ACTIVE SERVICE
Date to South Africa: 3 March 1900
Campaigns: South Africa 1900
Service medal, clasps and other awards: South Africa Medal. Cape Colony, Orange Free State.
DEATH
Date: 30 May 1900
Place: Lindley
Cause: Killed in action
Commemorated: Walker is buried in the Lindley Cemetery (images below). He is commemorated on the Lindley Cemetery Memorial; and on the Yeomanry Kop Memorial, Lindley.
On 18 July 1900 the Newry Reporter carried the following report:
POOR TOM WALKER! The sad news of his death on the battlefield at Lindley reported in Corporal Berry's letter some weeks ago, but at the time discredited, has now been officially confirmed. On Monday his relatives received a wire from the Yeomanry Office to the effect that he had been killed in the fighting at Lindley between the 28th and 31st of May. Deceased, who was not more than twenty-seven years of age, was remarkably popular in Newry, for he was a young gentleman of a bright and lively temperament that made him friends wherever he went. He was plucky and "hard as nails," thanks to his experience as an officer in the mercantile marine, and not one of the local volunteers seemed better fitted for the hardships of a campaign; but the deadly Mauser picks off the reobust as well as the weak, the plucky more frequently than the timid, and we are satisfied that Trooper Walker's death was one of which, while they must deplore it, his bereaved relatives will to a degree be proud. He went to his death, we have no doubt, as a soldier and, if a few months had not changed his nature, with a laugh on his lips and defiance in his eyes. His relatives have our sincere sympathy in their bereavement.
On 30 August the Newry Reporter published a letter from Private William Holt which included the following reference:
Poor Tom Walker, of Newry, got shot in the head with an explosive bullet, and one of our fellows had seven shots in the stomach..
In a later report in that paper (10 December): "It is stated that he was shot in the forehead while handing a cigarette to his companion".
This page last updated 8 July 2024.