Education: Trinity College
Dublin where he obtained
a B.A. in
1621 and an M.A. in 1624. Leslie notes that he is described as a
"Doctor" on his tomb. Married:Ursula
Stanhope
in 1642
Occupation: Clergyman. George
was Rector of Badoney and
Cappagh, 1836-60, then Rector of Donoughmore, Desertlyn and
Erriglekeerogue 1662-74, and Chancellor of Armagh 1664-77. He was also
an advisor to Dr. Bramhall, Bishop of Derry.
Archbishop Vesey, in his Life of Bramhall, says "my reverend uncle, Dr.
George Walker, an intimate of the Primate and very useful to his Grace
in many offices." Death: 15
September 1677
Buried: in Kilmore Church,
Armagh, County
Armagh, Northern Ireland
Notes: George fled from Ireland to the Continent during the
Rebellion. He was
restored to his livings at Badoney and Cappagh on 25 October 1660.
From
Derry Clergy and Parishes by Rev James B
Leslie (1937) p100: Parish of Badoney: Rectors 1636.
George Walker (Sen.) inst. Badoney and Cappagh, Jan 13 (F.F.). He way
son of the above ; was of T.C.D. Sch, 1617, B.A. 1621, M.A. 1624, is
described a " Doctor " on his tomb. He was R. Badoney and Cappagh
1636-60, fled to the Continent during the Rebellion. At the Restoration
in a Petition he states " that a long time before the rebellion he was
instituted and lawfully inducted to the Rectories of Bodony and Cappa .
. . and was dispossessed at the Rebellion and since which
time he
bath been driven to many straits to preserve himself and his family
abroad . . . He petitions for his livings " and for the value
of
them." He was restored to his livings, Oct. 25 1660, but nothing was
said about the money. (Seymour's Comvu. Mss. p. 154). He was
R.
Donoughmore, Desertlyn and Erriglekeerogue 1662-74, evidently having
res. his Derry Rectories. He was also Chanc. of Armagh
1664-77.
Abp. Vesey in his Life of Bramhall, says " my reverend unckle, Dr.
George Walker, an intimate of the Primate and very useful to his Grace
in many offices." In the tablet in Dighton Church, Suffolk,
to
the memory of his wife, Ursula (dau. of Sir John Stanhope, who d. Aug.
17, 1654) he is called "Archdeacon of Dun (sic.) " which cannot be
correct. He was father of Rev. George W. the " Defender of
Derry,"
and d. Sep. 15, 1677 and was bur. at Kilmore, Co. Armagh (see Armagh
Clergy, p. 38). In the Halliday Collection R.I.A. is a Pamphlet by Rev.
George Walker. The Doctrine of the, Sabbath. Amsterdam, 1639.
Sources:
Birth: LDS Ancestral File
(AFN:
TJC6-NC)
Baptism: LDS
Ancestral File (AFN:
TJC6-NC)
Education: Derry
Clergy and Parishes by Rev James B
Leslie (1937) p100
Marriage:Derry
Clergy and Parishes by Rev James B
Leslie (1937) p100; LDS Ancestral File (AFN:
TJC6-NC)
Education: Derry
Clergy and Parishes by Rev James B Leslie (1937)
p100
Death:Derry
Clergy and Parishes by Rev James B
Leslie (1937) p100
Burial:Derry
Clergy and Parishes by Rev James B Leslie (1937)
p100; LDS Ancestral File (AFN:
TJC6-NC)
Notes:Derry
Clergy and Parishes by Rev James B
Leslie (1937) p100; Newry
Telegraph, 30 October 1838
Education: Glasgow University Married: Isabella.
There is some difference of opinion as to whether Isabella was Isabella
Maxwell of Finnebrogue (claimed by Leslie), or
Isabella Barclay (claimed in the Dictionary of
National Biography).
Occupation: Clergyman, and later a soldier. On July 16,
1669, he was inst. R. Lissan and Desertlyn. In 1674 he was appointed
rector of Donoghmore, county Tyrone, which had been devastated during
the civil war. He built a rectory there in 1683 and a mill in the
village 1684. George was designated to the Bishopric of Derry by
William III, but was killed before he was consecrated. Death: 1 July 1690, at the Battle of the Boyne, Londonderry, Ireland
Buried: in Donaghmore, County
Tyrone,
Ireland (now Northern Ireland)
This article appeared in the Newry Telegraph
on 30
October 1838.
Discovery
and
Re-Interment
OF
THE REMAINS OF THE
REV. GEORGE
WALKER,
RECTOR OF
DONAGHMORE AND
GOVERNOR OF LONDONDERRY.
____________
From the NEWRY
TELEGRAPH, 30th
October, 1838
"Thrice honored shade
of Walker
wise,
To Derry's cause so true
Oh! could you from the starry
skies
Our sad condition view -
How would your wounded
spirit
feel,
The dark day to behold,
When all our fathers won by
steel,
Their sons betrayed for gold." -
GRAHAM
______________________________________________
On Tuesday the 16th of October, the
Church of Donaghmore, at
Castlecaulfield,
being in the process of repair by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, it
was found necessary to lower and level the floor of it.
In that part of the Chancel immediately under the
monument of
Governor
Walker, the workmen discovered a full-sized oak coffin containing the
remains
of his widow, who in 1703, caused his bones to be brought there from
the
banks of the Boyne, where his body had been interred and had lain for
thirteen
years. They were this day found in a small oak box, in which this
"widow
indeed," full of endearing recollections of happier days, had deposited
them.
This worthy Lady was the mother of four sons of the
renowned
Walker,
who, at his death, were serving in King William's army and each of
whom,
in justice to their immortal father's service and their own, ought to
have
inherited one of the forfeited estates. John Walker, the eldest son, on
a petition to the House of Commons, obtained a pension of
£200 a
year, which he enjoyed until the beginning of the reign of George I.
when
he was deprived of it by the parsimony of the triumphant Whigs. Of the
other sons there is no record, save that the daughter of one of them
was
the mother of the late Mrs. Caldbeck, of Lisburn.
The Walkers were a Yorkshire family. The father of
the
Governor of Derry
was the Rev. George Walker, sen., Rector of Cappagh, County of Tyrone,
the friend and confidential adviser of Dr. Bramhall, Bishop of Derry,
when
this Prelate was nobly using his private means and public influence in
regaining the alienated property of the Church of Ireland, and
purchasing
the advowsons of the impropriated Rectories, which he added to the
Vicarages
throughout the Diocese. He sent his son and namesake to Glasgow College
for education; and on the young man's return, soon after the
restoration
of King Charles II, he was presented to the Rectories of Donaghmore and
Errigal Keerogue, in the County of Tyrone. Walker was in the sear and
yellow
leaf of life when he went to Derry in 1689, being then, according to
credible
tradition 71 years of age. His sister Anne married William Maxwell,
Esq.
of Falkland, High Sheriff of the County of Monaghan, in the year 1691,
and who was great great grand-father of the present representative of
his
renowned ancestor - namely, the Rev. Thomas Carpendale, Rector of
Donaghmore.
Mr. Carpendale, with Edwd. Evans, Esq. son of the
Rev. Geo.
Evans, who
had been upwards of 30 years Rector of Donaghmore, Alexander Mackenzie
Esq. and a few others naturally regardful of the remains of this great
and good man, caused them to be taken carefully from the decayed box in
which they were found, and putting them and those of his widow into
smaller
boxes, enclosed both, with suitable inscriptions, into a leaden coffin,
which being laid in one of deal plank, was solemnly deopsited in the
hero's
grave, by his Rev. descendant and successor, assisted by the Rev. John
Graham, Author of the History of the Siege of Derry, and also by one of
the oldest Apprentice Boys of the Maiden City.
In the case with Governer Walker's remains was
placed a flint
glass
bottle, hermetically sealed, containing the following writing on
parchment:-
"Be it recorded, that whilst this Church was undergoing
repair in the
year 1838, search was made beneath the Monument of the Rev. Geo.
Walker,
immediately opposite to the Communion Table, at the Eastern end of the
Church, and South side of the Aisle, to ascertain whether his bones
were
deposited there, agreeable to the inscription on the Monument, erected
by his widow (illegible)
"We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, having
assembled in
said Church,
on Tuesday, 16th October 1838, and having made search immediately
beneath
said Monument fixed in the wall, have found, in a full-sized oak
coffin,
the remains of his widow; and in a small oaken case adjoining, were
deposited
bones which had not the appearance of regular interment in a coffin,
but
corresponding with the words on the monument, 'Ossa reconduntur,'
&c.
&c.
"Now to testify our veneration and respect for the
memory of
the illustrious
Walker, we herein carefully replace the bones, and restore them to
their
former position, together with this Record.
"THOMAS CARPENDALE,
Rector
of the Parish of Donaghmore.
"ROBERT FRASER,
Curate of
said Parish.
"EDWARD EVANS,
Esq., of Dungannon,
son of the Rev. GEORGE EVANS,
formerly Rector of said Parish.
"EDWARD EVANS,
jun., Esq.,
of Armagh, son of the said Edward.
"HENRY POLE,
Esq., J.P.,
Dungannon.
Previous to the re-interment of the bones, a cast was taken
of the
skull,
which was perfectly sound, and in which the organs of intelligence and
firmness were remarkably developed.
Walker afforded an instance of the value of a
classical
education and
habits of literary composition to a military man; proving that the
hero,
capable of recording actions in which he has been concerned, with
modesty
and without exaggeration, is more likely to get full credit for his own
merits, than the illiterate warrior who requires another man's pen to
do
justice to him.
____________
The following extract from the
preface to the "History of the
Siege
of Londonderry" may not be unsuitable in this place:-
"The applause which immediately followed the
publication of
Walker's
Diary, in London, was unbounded. The heroic author basked in the
sunshine
of royal and polular favour, seldom beaming on the head of any one man
at the same time, however great his worth or important his services.
King
William's munificent bounty to him was a matter of policy as well as
gratitude,
scarce less beneficial to the giver than to the receiver of it. The
Whigs
who were even then ready enough to be troublesome to their deliverer,
and
soon afterwards made him weary of his crown and his life together,
hailed
it as an act which reflected equal honour upon both; and the celebrated
Tillotson, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, thus re-echoed the
voice
of the public upon Walker's promotion to the See of Derry, in his
letter
to Lady Russell, of the 19th of Sept. 1689:
" 'The King, besides his first bounty to Mr.
Walker,
(£5000) whose
modesty is equal to his merit, hath made him Bishop of Londonderry, one
of the best bishopries in Ireland. It is incredible how much every body
is pleased with what his Majesty hath done in this matter, and it is no
small joy to me to see that God directs him so wisely.'
"On the 19th of November, in the same year, he
received the
thanks of
the House of Commons; and on the 26th of February following, the
University
of Oxford, with that regard to the Protestant interest which still
characterizes
it, conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity. Sir
Godfrey
Kneller, at the king's command, drew his picture; and copperplates
struck
off from it were dispersed through the Three Kingdoms. In some of the
prints
he is drawn with a Bible open at the 20th chapter of Exodus, in one
hand,
and a drawn sword in the other. His garment of a purple color, and a
large
old-fashioned band, form a strong contrast to the military sash
appearing
in crimson folds about his waist. A copy of this curious print hung for
half-a-century over the parlor fire-place of a tavern in Londonderry."
Another copy, said to be a more correct likeness,
is in
possession of
his descendent, William Caldbeck, Esq. of Lisburn, Sub-Sheriff of the
County
Down.
P.M.S.
Hic juxta, Lector
Reverendi Georgii Walker, S.T.D.,
Hujus Parochiæ olim Rectoris,
Ossa Reconduntur,
Ille, cujus vigilantia et virtute,
Londini-Derensis Civitas
(illegible) numinis
ripam,
Pro eadem causa, adversus eosdem hostes,
Anno 1690.
Occisus cecidit.
Cujus reliquiis et memoriæ,
Mæstissima adhuc illius vidua,
Isabella Walker
Hoc monumentum possuit,
Anno 1703
Saxo autem erit fama perennoir,
Nec futura minus qcam præsentia
secula
Tam pium militem, tam fortem sacerdotem
Mirabuntur.
____________
Of the foregoing we annex a literal
translation:-
P.M.S.
Near this,
Reader, are deposited the
remains of the Rev.
George Walker, D.D. formerly Rector of this Parish. He, by whose
vigilance
and valor, Londonderry, in the year 1689, was rescued from the enemies
of William and the Faith, fell, mortally wounded, at the Banks of the
Boyne,
for the same cause, against the same enemies, in the year 1690. To
whose
remains and memory, his still inconsolable widow, Isabella Walker, has
erected this monument, in the year 1703.
____________
But his fame shall be more
durable than
the rock; nor
will future ages, less than the present, admire a Soldier so pious, a
Minister
so intrepid.
Notes: George was the Governor of Londonderry (County Londonderry,
Northern
Ireland) during the Glorious
Revolution and siege
of 1689 in which the city was besieged for 105 days by the
army of
James II.
Armagh Clergy and Parishes by J
B Leslie (1911) p230: Parish of Donoughmore,
Rectors and Vicars: 1674 - George Walker, jun., D.D., inst.
Sep. 9, 1674 (F.F.T.). He was the son of his predecessor, Rev. George
W., D.D.). Chancellor (see Chancellors) by his wife Ursula Stanhope,
was b. in Co. Tyrone in 1618 and educated at Glasgow University. We
find him getting a legacy of a mourning ring in the Will of Thomas
Chambers, Armagh, in 1664. On July 16, 1669, he was inst. R.
Lissan and Desertlyn. He m. Isabella Maxwell, of Finnebrogue [Will
proved 1706]. He became prominent as the leader of the Loyalists in the
celebrated Siege of Derry, and was designated to the Bishopric of Derry
by William III., but was killed, before he was consecrated, at the
Battle of the Boyne. His widow, some years later, brought what were
believed to he his remains to Donoughmore where they were buried, and
erected a tablet to his memory in the church ; inscription given in
Jour. S.P.M.D. It is said, I believe, on excellent
authority, that when the church was being repaired during the
incumbency of Rev. Thomas Carpendale, he, fearing lest -when party
spirit was running high - the Roman Catholics should steal Walker's
bones, removed them to the glebe and kept them under his bed until the
repairs were completed ! Walker had
several children. His son John in 1707 received a pension of
£200 a Year, which was terminated in 1717 by a grant of
£2,000 [was it paid ?] , he became Collector of Customs at
Dundalk.
His dau. Anne m. William Maxwell, of
Falkland (see Peerage and B.L.G.). Walker was the author of
several pamphlets etc., on the Siege of Derry.
His
life has been written more than once. See Dwyer's Siege of Londonderry
; Graham's Ireland Preserved ; also D.N.B and Hist. of Kilsaran, p. 68. Sources:
Birth: Walker family tree
supplied by
Maylon Walker
Education:Armagh Clergy and Parishes by J
B Leslie (1911) p230; Newry
Telegraph, 30 October 1838
Occupation:Armagh Clergy and Parishes by J
B Leslie (1911) p230; Dictionary
of National Biography, Volume for W pp 836-838
Death:Newry
Telegraph, 30 October 1838; Dictionary
of National Biography, Volume for W pp 836-838
Burial:Newry
Telegraph, 30 October 1838
Notes:
Carpendale family tree written
by WF Montague Groome (1927)
Occupation: Clergyman. Gervese
was ordained D. London Mar. 29, 1591, P. 1592, C. All SS.
Steyning,
London, V. Great Staughton, Hunts. 1594-1615 (Venn's Al.
Cant.). He
was also Vicar of Cappagh from 1622-36 and Rector of Badoney,
co Derry also from 1622-36.
From Derry
Clergy and Parishes by Rev James B Leslie (1937) p
100: Parish of Badoney: Rectors 1622.-
Gervase Walker appears R,. (R.V.). Probably Gervase W., son of Thomas
W. of Ruddington, Notts., ed. by Mr. Smith at Nottingham Sch., adm.
Siz. aged 18 at Caius Coll. Cambr. Jan. 3, 1584/5, B.A. 1588/9 ; ord.
D. London Mar. 29, 1591, P. 1592, C. All SS. Steyning, London, V. Great
Staughton, Hunts. 1594-1615 (Venn's Al. Cant.). He was also
V. Cappagh
1622-36. He got a grant of a glebe here on May 24, 1626 (Morrin III
177). He is described in the R.V. 1622 as " a Master of Arts, a grave
man and a preacher." He seems to have res. in 1636 in favour of his
son. In the Derry Cath. Reg. is the entry "Mr. Garvis Walker
was buried on 1st July 1642." Rev. Geo. Walker below, was
his son : a grand dau. m. Abp. John Vesy of Tuam.
Buried: 1 July 1642, in St. Columb's
Cathedral,
Londonderry, Ireland (now
Northern Ireland)
Sources:
Birth: aged 18 at admittance
to Caius College on 3 Jan 1584/5; LDS Ancestral File (AFN:
TJC6-JN)
Education: Derry
Clergy and Parishes by Rev James B Leslie (1937) p
100
Occupation: Derry
Clergy and Parishes by Rev James B Leslie (1937) p
100
Burial:Derry
Clergy and Parishes by Rev James B Leslie (1937) p
100; LDS Ancestral File (AFN:
TJC6-JN)
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