# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Walker, Mark

​WALKER, Sir MARK (1827–1902), general, born at Gore Port on 24 Nov. 1827, was eldest of three sons of Captain Alexander Walker of Gore Port, Finea, Westmeath, by Elizabeth, daughter of William Elliott, of Ratherogue, co. Carlow. The father, of the West Kent (97th) regiment, served at the battles of Vimiero, Salamanca, Talavera, Busaco, and Albuera, and at Talavera saved the colours of his regiment, which he carried, by tearing them off the pole and tying them round his waist. Sir Samuel Walker [q. v. Suppl. II] and Alexander Walker, captain 38th South Staffordshire regiment, who died unmarried at Aden of cholera in 1867, were younger brothers. Educated at Arlington House, Portarlington, under the Rev. John Ambrose Wall, he entered the army on 25 Sept. 1846, in the 30th foot, without purchase, on account of his father's services. In 1851 the regiment embarked f or Cephalonia, and was detached in the Ionian Islands.
Walker was appointed adjutant to the company depot, under command of Major Hoey, which remained at Walmer until the following year, when it moved to Dover, and in 1853 to Fermoy. In October 1853 he proceeded with a draft to Cork, and embarked for Gibraltar, where the regiment was then stationed. On 4 Feb. 1854 he was promoted lieutenant and appointed adjutant. On 1 May 1854 the regiment embarked for Turkey; it was encamped at Scutari, and formed part of the 1st brigade under Brig.-Greneral Pennefather, and of the 2nd division under Sir De Lacy Evans. In July Walker was with his regiment at Varna, and in September embarked for the Crimea. At the battle of the Abna (20 Sept.) Walker had his horse shot under him and was wounded in the chest by a spent grape shot. But he made the forced march to Balaklava and was present at its capture. On the following day the advance was resumed to the Inkerman Heights, and next day the 30th regiment took up its position on the right of the army. He was present when the Russians made a strong sortie on 26 Oct., and at the battle of Inkerman on 5 Nov. showed a resourceful gallantry which won him the Victoria Cross (date of notification of Victoria Cross, 2 June 1858).
He was present with the regiment during the severe winter of 1854, serving continually in the trenches. On the night of 21 April, when on trench duty, he volunteered and led a party which took and destroyed a Russian rifle-pit, for which he was mentioned in despatches and promoted into the 'Buffs' (cf. Kinglake.'s Crimea, viii. 214). He joined that regiment, and on the night of 9 June in the trenches was severely wounded by a piece of howitzer shell and had his right arm amputated the same night. He received the Crimean medal with three clasps, the Turkish medal and 5th class of the Mejidie (Despatches, London Gazette, 7 May 1855). On 7 July 1855 he was sent home, and six months after joined the depot at Winchester. Early in 1856 the depot of the Buffs went to the Curragh, and on 6 June he was promoted brevet-major for his services in the Crimea. After serving two years in Ireland, he joined the Buffs in the Ionian Islands in July 1858, and early in November the regiment was concentrated at Corfu, where he was presented with the Victoria Cross by General Sir George Buller at a parade of all the troops. The same month he went with the Buffs to India, and was stationed at Dum-Dum, and on 22 Nov. 1859 proceeded with a wing of the regiment to Canton. Serving through the China campaign, he was on 30 March 1860 appointed brigade major of the 4th brigade, which was in the 2nd division, commanded by Sir Robert Napier, the commander-in-chief being Sir James Hope Grant [q. v.]. He was present at the capture of Chusan, at the battle of Sinho, at the assault of the Taku forts, at the surrender of Pekin, and at the signing of the treaty of peace by Lord Elgin. He received the medal with two clasps for Taku forts and Pekin and the brevet of lieutenant-colonel on 15 Feb. 1861. He embarked with the regiment for England on 27 Oct., arriving on 15 April 1862, and was quartered successively at Dover, Tower of London, Aldershot, Sheffield, and the Curragh. In July 1867, when the Buffs proceeded to India, Walker remained in command of the company depot at home, and after two years exchanged into the 2nd battalion at Aldershot. He was promoted brevet- colonel on 15 Feb. 1869, and on 3 Aug. 1870 was advanced to a regimental majority in the 1st battalion, then quartered at Sitapur in Oude. He joined them in Jan. 1871, and served at Benares, Lucknow, and Calcutta. On 10 Dec. 1873 he was appointed to the command of the 45th ​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.
[Dod's Knightage; Burke's Landed Gentry; Hart's and Official Army Lists; G. S. Creasy, The British Empire; Carter's Medals of the British Army, Crimea, p. 181; The XXX, the paper of the 1st battalion East Lancashire regiment; History of 45th Regiment, by General Hearn; private information.]
H. M. V.