George Walker was my Great Grandfather. I have managed to trace George Walker’s family to Scotland.

A James (?) John (?) Stewart married Jane Strachan from Aberdeen and they had a daughter Margaret Garioch Stewart in 1843. Margaret Garioch Stewart was born in 1843 in Scotland (Aberdeen]. Jane Strachan was born c. 1808 and her photo is on Ancestry is below. A Derry newspaper published an article about her in 1909, just before she died in 1911. Jane Stewart was described as the oldest living person in Londonderry in a newspaper article in 1909 (see below) for which I am grateful to Alison Henry, who sent it on further to conversations about the family history.

The family moved from Scotland when her father got work on the estate of Lord Leitrim at Milford, Co. Donegal. Lets hope she escaped this fate;

According to his biographer Fiona Slevin, Lord Leitrim was accused by some of “repeatedly [violating] young girls and [claiming] droit du seigneur … some of his peers repeated accusations of his ‘immorality towards daughters of tenants’ in the House of Commons and named him ‘the bad earl’.”^[2] However, Slevin also quotes a journalist who investigated Lord Leitrim’s assassination as claiming, “‘even among those who hold the strongest views upon Lord Leitrim’s conduct as a landlord, the charge (of debauchery) is discredited and I did not meet a single person who regarded it as tenable.’” In Slevin’s words, “the final straw that motivated the individuals involved” in Lord Leitrim’s assassination was his alleged rape of the daughter of one of his assassins.

Margaret Garioch Stewart married Robert Walker in 1859.

Robert Walker was born in 1836 in Co. Sligo. His father was James Walker, a farmer and his Mother was a Catherine Allen. Robert joined the R.I.C aged 20 in 1856 and was posted to Milford, Co. Donegal. He married Margaret Stewart in 1859.

Robert Walker and Margaret Garioch Stewart were married at Carrigart Presbyterian  Church, Co. Donegal, on 25 April 1859.  Margaret is listed as a minor, so we and must have been 16 years of age. It is possible her first child (Jane) was born before she married Robert (February 1859). The picture below is Margaret Walker, as found on Philip Henry’s Ancestry page.

Robert died of TB (phytisis) on 6 Dec 1869 at Letterkenny, Co,Donegal, when he was aged  33.

Their children (as given by D. Scarlett) (see also Ancestry image) were

• Jane born 19 Feb 1860 (?) (Although Ancestry gives date of 1859). She married John Caldwell at Waterside Presb. Church, Derry. She died in 1903.
• John born 19 Jan 1861 – he died of phytisis (TB) on 21 Nov 1889  
• James born 22 Sept 1862 – left Derry to go to sea at 16, lived at Halifax, Nova Scotia, and married Mary Elizabeth Carew of there in 1896. I found an entry in Family Search of his ‘baptism’ in 1896, where he is listed as a ‘convert’. (see below) Not clear to what church.
• Robert born 15 June 1865 – married Annie Palmer of Belfast on 7 May 1888
• George born 30 March 1867 in Letterkenny – married Magdalen Williams on 11 Sept 1894 at Church of Ireland, Lkny. In 1901 Census, George stated his profession as foreman brickmaker. Their address in 1911 census was 2 Forthriver Gardens. Magdelen, his wife wife died Nov 1909, he died at Belfast Clifton  House c. 1951. I do not know why he is given as George ‘Forbes Fallon’ Walker.  
• Still born ? 1868   
• Margaret born 31 Dec 1869 – Margaret married Joseph Henry, described as a riveteer in the census, on 25 Dec 1902 at Christ Church, Derry. They had one son Norman Stewart Henry on 9 April, 1907.  Family moved later to Belfast.  It is his son, Philip, who has posted on Ancestry.

Margaret G. Walker seems to be in the 1901 census, about age 26 which is odd as she would been born in 1875, after the father Robert died. Of course the age in the census could be incorrect – in fact she would have been 32 by then. This may have been Margaret and Jane. The older Margaret Walker in the house in Derry seems to be the Mother, ( Margaret Stewart who married Robert Walker in Londonderry in 1859, as a minor, b. 1843 ). She is a widow in the census, which ties in with Robert her husband dying in 1869. She is also listed in the 1911 census, where the age is given as 69, which would mean she was born in 1842, suggesting 1901 age is incorrect. Jane Stewart Walker is likely Margaret’s sister, although, again the age is inconsistent with the ages given by D. Scarlett. Ann Stewart is in fact Jane Stewart, her mother Ann was an error although uncorrected. She died in 1911.

Interestingly, I have a quilt that my mother had, and was told it was from relatives in Derry who worked in a shirt factory. I think now this must the relatives.

Margaret married Joseph Henry in 1902, and they are listed in the 1911 census as having a son, Norman Stewart Henry in 1907. Margaret’s age here suggests she was born in 1870, more accurate than the 1901 census.

With help from Belfast Forum, I have established that Margaret Walker (born Stewart) died in 1918 grieved by her son George and daughter Margaret (Henry) and a Robert Walker. It is likely the son-in-law named George in the notice is an error and should be Joseph. This Robert is one of the other sons listed above.

Robert Walker, George’s brother died in 1934. He is buried in Belfast. There are two others in the grave – a child Robert who was 6 and a half, (so born about Oct 1893) and Elizabeth Glendenning Walker, aged 19. Elizabeth’s birth is in the civil records, born to Robert Walker, a Dentist and Annie Walker, born Palmer, in 1889. According to the 1901 census, they had three other daughters Margaret, Victoria and Adelaide/Annie. By the 1911 census they are living on the Lisburn Road. 

Margaret Henry died in 1940. Joseph Henry died in 1942. Norman, their son, married Ida Craig in 1943 and they had a daughter, Sheila who married Duncan Scarlett. Norman Henry was a Director of Vulcanite. 

Mum knew very little about the Walkers, but toward the end of her life received a letter from her cousin (Uncle?), Norman Henry, who told more about her grandfather’s family (?). We seem to have lost Norman Henry’s letter, and Peter and I are unsure of this detail.  It did refer to a land stewart, so this must have been James, his grandfather. It could have been anything. I remember something about Mum’s mother having cousins she did not know of (?). It may have been that George was cut off from some of his siblings when he married Magdalen?  

Below is the census record for both 1901 and 1911. George and his wife Magdalen, a Catholic, are in the 1901 census. Minnie (Mother of Phyllis Millington) is listed also. Magdalen was born in 1869 and her name before she married George Walker was Williams. They married in 1894 and were both from Derry. She is listed as a hairdresser. She died in the inter-censal period, in 1909, of TB.  There is purchase of a grave by George in Mum’s papers for this date. She is buried in Dundonald Cemetery.

In the 1911 census George is recorded as having 5 children, one living. This was Minnie. I can find three other children; Margaret born in 1896, who died of meningitis a year later, and twins, Mary and Magdalen, born in June 1897 who died within 15 days. I cannot find the other child in the Irish civil records, so may have died prem., and not recorded, or the census record of 5 may be an error. FmP lists about 5 Walker children in this time period, but I cannot tell if they are children of George and Magdalen. Mum never mentioned her mother’s siblings, so I unsure if she even knew about them.

George lived at 2 Forth River Gardens in 1901 and also 1911 and at least some years up to the 1930s. I don’t know what happened to him then. He died in 1951 at age 84, in residential care, Clifton House. His name is recorded as George Forbes Fallon Walker (?) and curiously, on the death certificate in Mum’s papers, is listed as a bachelor.

It seems Magdalen’s mother was also Magdalen and had at least 6 children. One of these, Mary, born in Derry, married Daniel Donegan and had a daughter, also named Magdalen. 

Mary and Daniel had three children, Ann, Thomas and Magdalen, seen here in the UK 1891 census with parents and later in the 1901 census, Magdalen is back living in Ireland with her grandmother. 

Her birth record (1886) shows she was born in Liverpool, although her sister Ann was born in Derry. Information from a Donegan family tree in Ancestry suggests Mary died in 1899 and Daniel re married. Magdalen had three half brothers; Jacobus, James and Daniel, born in Liverpool. Magdalen returned to Ireland in 1904. So it may be that the children of Mary were returned to Ireland when the father re married. 

I cannot find out what happened to Magdalen Donigen. There are no marriages or deaths in Irish Geneology or Family Search. The Logan site in Ancestry gives death for 1963 in Liverpool, but no further information. 

I thought she could be the ‘Aunt Maggie’ with the boarding house whom Minnie went to work for, but Belfast Forum has confirmed that the house was owned by Margaret Henry, George’s sister. Mum remembered visiting her Aunt Maggie and looking out onto the railtrack from the house in Belfast. 

 The pictures below may be Minnie or even Aunt Maggie, but I cannot verify. 

From the 1901 census, it seems Magdalen, Minnie’s mother, was born around 1874 (assuming full age for marriage = 20) in Derry. Her father was James Williams, a hairdresser in Derry. He died in 1896, at 109 Foyle Street. By 1901 the family seems to have moved to 55 Foyle Street. His widow, Magdalen, is living there with three sons, William (b. 1862), James (1869) and Patrick (b. 1871). There are also two grandchildren, who must be the sons of the daughter Mary, who married Daniel Donegan, as found in the UK 1891 census.  Mary was born c. 1853, but it seems she died around 1899, necessitating her children to move back to Ireland. Magdalen, the granddaughter later shows up in Belfast, living in the house of George and her Aunt Magdalen in 1911. Another son, John (b. 1857) is married and lives in William St in Derry.   

By 1911 William Williams, Minnie’s brother has married a Margaret (b. Fergeson) and is living in Gross St in Derry. Neither James nor Patrick nor Magdalen are in the Irish 1911 census.  They may have returned to Liverpool if this is her death and will (for 1917).

Mum’s second christian name was Geary, and she was always somewhat embarassed by this, and explained it to me as a surname that was supposed to be ‘kept’ in the family. She didnt seem to have more information on this. I cannot find any Geary link, however I am grateful to Alison Henry who has told me that the ‘Garioch’ in Margaret Stewart’s name, is pronounced Geary and relates to a place in Aberdeen where she was from.