Sir Thomas Gordon Walker, born in 1849 in the Manse in Urquhart, Elgin, Scotland, died in 1917. His wife, Dame Adela Jemima Elizabeth (nee Irwin), born in Ireland in 1858, was the daughter of the Rev A Irwin, of Napton, Warwickshire. She died in Chichester in 1940, and was buried with her husband in the Cemetery.
Thomas was the third child of the Rev Henry Walker and Eleanora Frances Julienne Gordon. He married Adela in Ireland in 1879.
He received his education from Old Gymnasium and the University of Aberdeen, and acquired a degree in the Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) He joined the British Indian Civil Service as Assistant Commissioner in Punjab in the year 1872. Later he served as the Settlement Officer from 1877 to 1881 and held several other positions throughout his career, such as Registrar of Chief Court from 1881 to 1888; Commissioner of Excise from 1888 1899; Judge of Chief Court in Punjab from 1898 to 1902; Commissioner of Delhi Division from 1901 to 1905; Financial Commissioner in Punjab and Member of the Imperial Legislative Council from the year 1905 to 1906.
He was appointed as the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in the year 1907 and served in office till 1908. He was also a Member of the Durbar Coronation Committee from 1902 to 1903. He retired in the year 1912 and was knighted with the Knight Commander of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE) in the New Year's Honours in 1908 (already Companion of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India in1903).
He was the Author of a book entitled Final Report On the Revision of Settlement, 1878-83, of the Ludhiana District in the Panjab and another The Customary Law of the Ludhiana District.
In the 1901 Scottish Census he was living in Edinburgh with Adela, son Alan a Student in Arts' - and 2 female servants.
Alan Lachlan, born in Bengal, died at 19 rue Oudinot, Paris, but he was described as being of Las Palmas in the Canary Islands. Probate was given to his sons Patrick and Robin. His ashes were interred in Heene Cemetery in 1934.
In 1905 he married Dora Marguerite Chrestien in Worthing. Dora was born in Marseilles in about 1885, and in 1891 was living in Rowlands Road, with her mother Eliza and sister Marie. Her father Fernand, was in India at the time.
(See next month's issue for more on this family).
In 1907 Alan was a passenger (Gentleman) aboard the ship Marmora bound for Bombay. He. had a temporary commission as a Captain in 1918 and as Lieutenant Colonel in 1921 and was in the Punjab Civil Service from 1909 to 1919 as a Land Settlement Officer from 1913, and later a Judge in Lahore
There are records of Dora sailing to Bombay in 1915 on the ship Caledonia, in 1920, with Colonel Alan, on the ship Kaiser I Hind and in 1921 on the ship China.
In 1924 Alan and Dora sailed from London to Bombay, giving their address as the Cavendish Hotel, Worthing.
He was proficient in Urdu, Persian, Arabic and Turkish.
In the face of assassination threats at a time of rebellion against the British rule, he came back to England in 1932. His address at the time was St James' Square, London SW1. In 1933 as a Judge, he sailed between London and Cape Town.
His son, Baron Patrick Chrestien Gordon Walker was born in Worthing in 1907. He became an MP, a prominent Labour Politician and a Cabinet Minister.