Arthur Abney Walker

He was born in Yorkshire in April 1820 the second son of Elizabeth Abney and her husband, Henry Walker (1785–1860) of Blyth Hall and Clifton House, Rotherham.Burkes Peereage: Henry Walker The Walker Brothers were prominent ironfounders, their notable works including Southwark Bridge in London. Their predecessors had specialised in cannons and supplied most of the cannon to the Royal Navy from the late 18th-century, including 80 of the 105 cannon on HMS Victory (the others being from the Carron Ironworks).{{cite web|url=http://cliftonpark.org.uk/cpm/homepage/81/the_walkers_of_clifton_house|website=cliftonpark.org.uk|title=The Walkers of Clifton House|access-date=2019-03-09}}

He studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating M.D. in 1857 with the thesis "On the comparative anatomy of the organ of hearing in man & in the lower animals".{{Cite journal|last=Walker|first=Arthur Abney|date=1857|title=On the comparative anatomy of the organ of hearing in man & in the lower animals|url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/32985|language=en}}

There is mention of his being a surgeon, but does not appear to have ever practised, and is referred to in directories as a "gentleman", implying that he lived off independent means.

In 1861 he was living in Edinburgh with his young family.Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women: Ethel Walker They lived at 32 Melville Street: a large mid-terraced Victorian townhouse in Edinburgh's fashionable West End.Edinburgh Post Office Directory 1862

In 1864 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being John Hutton Balfour.{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|access-date=9 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074135/https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp2.pdf|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}} In 1866 he is also listed as a Member of the Edinburgh Botanical Society alongside Robert Hutchison of Carlowrie and Stevenson Macadam.transactions of Edinburgh Botanical Society 1866 vol 8

In the 1870s he moved from Clifton House in Rotherham.

He retired to Beech Lodge in Wimbledon Common and died there in 1894.

He was married at least twice, his second wife being Isabella Robertson, daughter of John Robertson of Edinburgh. They were parents to the sculptor Dame Ethel Walker (1861–1951).ODNB: Ethel Walker

His sons included Arthur Edward Walker (born 1851), Frederick John Walker (born 1853), Ernest Abney Walker (born 1854) and Col Henry Walker.

• Studies of the Geographic Botany of Europe (1859)

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Category:1820 births

Category:1894 deaths

Category:People from Rotherham

Category:British botanists

Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh

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