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THE WALKERS

Harvey Walker (Father of Connie, Babs and Esme; grandfather of Eric King, Malcolm Price(d.1962), Royston King, Gillian Summers, Judy Price, and Harvey, Penny, Carolyn and Clive Summers)

1857 (Est.) Thomas Walker was born at 17 St Saviours Rd Croydon. Father of Harvey Walker. He was a manufacturer of mineral water, and later a Publican. On the 6 March 1873, he joined the Masons and became a Master Mason on the 13 May 1873 in the East Survey Lodge of Concord No 463 in the Province of Croydon

1881 7 October Harvey Wadsworth Walker was born at 32 Sumner Road Croydon Cert No 195876, and attended the Whitgift School Croydon from 1890 to 1896. It is as well at this time to put on paper some interesting facts. Harvey had a very varied life.

At the age of 14 he ran away to sea and found himself with the British Fleet serving on HMS Ardent at Cape Town supporting the Boar war effort. He took a very unique photograph from Table Mountain consisting of 6 prints giving a panoramic view of the fleet in the bay, before Cape Town was built. This picture remained in his West Bay Bungalow until his death. Harvey Summers one of his grandchildren, purchased the bungalow, and has the photo to this day (1990) hanging in his hall for all to see.

Harvey left the Navy in 1904 and married Ethel Mary De-Wonham, whom he had known since a boy in Croydon. They were married by Rev R N J Phillips in The Emmanuel Church in Croydon Between leaving the Navy and the First World War Harvey Walker undertook a number of occupations, his love however was engineering, in particular the motor and aircraft industry. On leaving the Navy Harvey started out selling Charles-Caple and Leonard petrol to garages in 3 gallon locked and sealed cans. These remained sealed until the motorist purchased the contents. On one occasion in the 60’s I (Eric) was leaving the West Bay Golf Club with my Grandfather, when he stopped to admire a Roll Royce car, only shortly to be joined by an elderly gentleman whom Harvey knew. It was Leonard whose petrol he had sold as a young man. He is now Sir Leonard, and he presented Grandpop with an autographed book on Leonard Oils.

Harvey moved on from here to a position which enabled him to get more involved with the engineering of cars, and the commencement of his career, in his love, engineering. Dennis Bros, of Guildford, who at that time were manufacturing bicycles and steel pony carriages, initially employed him. They later developed into the manufacture of a motorcar, fitted with a single cylinder Aster engine. He moved from Dennis to Laurier and Marner of 311 Oxford Street, whose rear entrance was in Dering Street. At the time Harvey joined them they were an established manufacturer of horse carriages for the aristocracy and hirers of City and Suburban electric cars. Harvey’s first job with them was to teach elderly coachmen to drive the cars, all of which had only ridden and handled horses. Harvey used to take them round and round Regents Park, dodging all in sight, often starting off in top gear, and changing down on the move to reverse. The company moved into the assembly and overhaul of petrol powered cars, which were Harvey's responsibility and the initial reason why he was employed. The most prominent makes were the Argyles and Mathieu cars. Fixed fittings and spare parts were machined and forged on the premises. Harvey became an expert in making half shafts and finishing by hand the white metal main bearings and big ends. He recalled having to crank by hand the new 40HP engines sufficiently fast to get the magneto to function and fire the engine.

Possibly Uncle Harry (Brother of Ethel) with 1913 models of a Renault and Belize. Photo taken in 1914

On completion he would deliver the car, and stay with the customer until he was familiar with it, again many had only handled horse drawn carriages. It should be noted that there are more private aeroplanes to day (1992), than there were cars then.
Harvey also sold a steam runabout called the Loco mobile, which meant town car. This he enjoyed and would relate how he used to demonstrate this car going round a circuit which took him down Fitzjohn Avenue, a long 1-in-10 hill, during which time he could get up a good head of steam, then rounding a hairpin bend he would chug up a 1-in-4 hill in Netherall Gardens with ease passing everything in sight, such as petrol and electric cars, the joke was that not anyone asked him to go round the other way, which was just as well, as going down the 1-in-4 he could not have got up 1-in-10 without stopping to get up a head of steam. He moved from this job to one that enabled him to influence the design of electric cars.

This work allowed him to take part in many races and trials and on one occasion he received a box full of medals, as the winner of every race. He wrote an article about his life that was published in Motor Sport in April 1974, when he was 92 years old. It was around this time that he was on the West of England ITV starring in a programme on the over Nineties, demonstrating that octogenarians are able to play Golf.
    As soon as the opportunity arose he moved on from cars to aeroplanes, working at RAe Farnborough, at this time Cody was still tying his aeroplanes to the famous tree, and operating out of Farnborough. Harvey became an AID inspector in 1915, and was deferred from the Royal Flying Corp in 1917 due to indispensable service in the AID. In 1918 he passed his City and Guilds in Iron and Steel Manufacture. This was not surprising as he had a keen interest in metallurgy a subject he later specialized in. Harvey of course took these qualifications the hard way. Married, with a family, he attended night school. His specialist knowledge in metallurgy enabled him to become a Chartered Engineer, bringing him to the fore front in engine design at Bristol’s, and later with Whittle, on England’s first Jet Engine. He remained at RAe throughout the 1914/18 war designing engines and testing them on the test beds. This work took him to RR and the Bristol Engine Company.
    During his time at RAe on 18 March 1922 he became a member of the Free Masons joining the Ad Astra Lodge No 3808 in the Province of London, and as a Master Mason received his seal on 10 November 1922. This would have been a particular, event for his father Thomas Walker who was also a Mason, as recorded under Harvey’s birth details.
    Harvey was with the Bristol Engine Factory, and was one of the AID Inspectors-in-Charge mentioned in the Royal Aeronautical Society 1866-1966 Centenary Journal. The AID staff, in those days, worked closely on the design of new projects, whilst at the same time being very careful not to violate the confidences of other firms. During this time, Harvey developed, on his new Atlas lathe, a special thread used to hold the Hercules Cylinder barrel onto the crankcase. This thread, still used to-day and known as the Bristol Thread, is used to hold steel studs in light alloy castings carrying high tensile loads. Whilst I write these notes, I am able to report that I was left this lathe, and it has been completely refurbished by my son’s father-in-law, and is in use in my garage (1990). I have now (2005) passed this lathe onto one of his great children Mathew Courtice who is a machinist, and will make very good use of it. The Hercules Engine has 14 cylinders and was later enlarged to 18 cylinders named the Centaurus, an example of which is on display in the Bristol Industrial Museum. Harvey's move from RAe Farnborough to Bristol Engines was strongly linked to his interest in metallurgy, as, Sir Harry Fedden, in 1920, built up a small but effective team of engineers who in turn set up a laboratory at Bristol which was exceptional in its time for its practical work on fatigue. Their equipment was always available to Development Engineers including a unique 100-ton Buckton machine, capable of examining failed components under a microscope whilst still hot. This team was joined by Harvey Mansell from the Farnborough development team, also Stan Mansell a Farnborough trainee, both of whom new Harvey Walker. It happened that one member of the AID staff was Sonny Mansell. Stan Mansell was later to work on gas turbine development with Omer early in the Second World War, a project that Harvey was destined to join, working closely with Whittle. It so happened that during his period at Bristol Engine's, he became involved in the design of the 1927 Schneider Trophy engine, the heads of which were cast in the Farnborough foundry by a foreman called Gladding, who had exceptional skills, appreciated by Harvey, who understood the difficulties in casting, as a consequence of his forging whilst with Laurier and Marner. Gladding and Harvey become friends hence Harvey was the natural person to liase between AID at Bristol and RAe Farnborough.
    Whilst at Bristol's Harvey spent many hours in the test sheds, one Bristol Apprentice he remembers was Miss Cartridge, who in her later years was a recruiting officer for the British Aircraft Corporation, based at Bristol. It was her who processed my (Eric’s) recruitment when I took up an appointment with the Bristol Aircraft Corporation 1967.

Whilst at Bristol's Harvey lived on a new housing estate at Horfield, No 29 Rosling Rd. Esme, his youngest daughter went to the Primary School located on the traffic lights at the junction of Kellaway Avenue and Wellington Hill, it is still standing today.(1991), and is a boy's club. It is worth noting that these traffic lights are reputed to be the highest point in Bristol. Bristol is a very hilly area, and quite a challenge to most family cars, particularly Bridge Valley Road, where chocks had to be used to hold cars towing caravans, whilst the car cooled during the ascent. Typical outings were a picnic at Blaise in the woods. Sundays they would go to Severn Beach, which was then one of the best beaches on the Bristol Channel but a rather noisy place as it had a very large

fun fair. A more peaceful outing was to Radcliffe Bay, just beyond Portishead, which was then preserved by the National Trust. Harvey's middle daughter Babs can well remember one of her favourite day's out, on the Blue Funnel Line to Ilfracombe, sailing from the Howells jetty, returning in the evening on a Char-a-banc (open coach) for the princely sum of Half a Crown or Two Shilling and Sixpence, now 12.5 Pence. Harvey knew Sir Harry Feddon and the White family personally, and recalls the very luxurious steam car they had built, the second world war stopped it going into production.
At the outbreak of the 1939-45 war Harvey was at the AID London HQ, having risen to Director level. However, as result of his vast experience and also his association with a Schneider event in the late thirties, (when the RR Eagle Engine was used, the fore-runner of the famous Merlin Engine, used to power the Hurricane and Spitfire fighters, also the equally famous Halifax and Lancaster (Dam Buster Aircraft) bombers), it was no wonder that he was moved to Bomber Command. Initially an error was made on his posting, and he finished up advising on the inspection of pots and pans! He did not complain as he was enjoying the rest from responsibility, also he knew the man, who was advising on Engine design and modifications, would immediately put the wheels of correction in motion, which he did. Hence after a short respite from the pressures of wartime production Harvey was back in harness. He was in particular responsible for getting AID procedures and staff established at the many shadow factories, most of whom were ex-motor manufacturers. This fell in very well with Harvey's personality, and as a result he had a long lasting association with BSA, Riley, Wolseley, Austin, Rover, to name but a few.

To carry out this task he moved house to 160 Widney Lane Solihull, from where he was able to easily reach all these factories, whilst at the same time living in a beautiful country lane opposite large woods. As a result of his duties, as in 1917 when he could not join the Royal Flying Corp, so in 1940 he was unable to retire, due to indispensable duties. During these final years Harvey was the Director General Bomber Command, responsible for the introduction of modifications including the purchase there-of. This gave him access to a considerable budget, which he was solely in control of.

Harvey's past friendship with Stan Mansell, who was working with Omer on the gas turbine, came to the fore, also his considerable experience in the supercharging of Merlin Engines, and the associated metallurgic problems, resulted in Harvey being tasked to provide the MoD funded team with AID support. This was the team which Whittle joined having been pushing his RAF Peers for funding for many years. Later this team was disbanded, however Harvey kept the brilliant RAF Engineer and Pilot funded from Bomber Commands funds, working in various locations including private houses. It was in one of these houses that the engine ran out of control. All hastily departed except Harvey, who rushed back and closed the Engine down, which by then had a ring of flame round its exterior. According to a Warrant Officer Yeo, who I later met during my RAF career, the story was that Harvey stopped the Engine, as he could not think how he could write off a house on his Engine Development budget. Later the project was reinstated by MoD at Lutterworth. All the history books fail to account for the lost 18 months, the clandestine continuation caused the then Aviation Minister acute embarrassment, as having declared the jet engine team had been disbanded, had to later admit it was still on target, and ahead of the German project. Harvey almost lost his pension over this matter, and has never been officially recognized for his dogged foresight.

When peace in Europe was declared in 1945, Harvey was immediately retired. Both Harvey and his wife Ethel looked for a quite place to retire to, both wishing to one day build their dream bungalow. In 1947 they took their Siddall Caravan to West Bay, and promptly fell in love with the area, finally purchasing No 124 West Bay Rd, and moved in the following year. It should be noted that the Siddall Caravan was a 13 ft 3 berth, which sold in 1938 for £88, fully equipped with crockery cutlery and linen.

Malcolm, Eric and Roy 1950's

Harvey whilst in Solihull studied and started to repair watches and clocks, specializing in the older ones which jewellers would not repair. Most of these needed rebushing, a very tedious and time consuming task, requiring Harvey to make the bushes on his watch lathe that he had made himself on his 3.5" Atlas lathe. He became very well known, and clocks etc were sent to him from all over England. His move to Bridport was kept quite, hoping that the influx of clocks would cease, but this was not to be and still they poured in. Often he had no idea from whom, hence having repaired them he had to wait for people to collect them. Today there are many valuable antique clocks in circulation as result of his rescue work.

Harvey and Ethel did build their bungalow; the opportunity arose as a result of a typical "Harveyism". Having purchased the house in West Bay Rd, Harvey had, all his life been a keen gardener, working strictly by the book. At the bottom of his garden in Bridport was a large strip of land that bordered on five other gardens, with a gate out into a small lane.

Grandpop at his workbench, late 1950's

This strip was overgrown with just about every weed in the book, resulting in Harvey and his neighbours fighting a losing battle with nature. Harvey took up the cause, and commenced the necessary investigations to find the owner. All the inhabitants were asked to get their deeds from their Building Societies etc and have them checked, to no avail. Harvey of course owned his house and land and had his deeds in his bookcase, hence he did not write to anyone to check them. Having drawn a blank all round Ethel, just for the heck of it, checked their deeds, only to find they owned the land in question. They now had their building plot, and applied for planning permission, which was granted and building commenced. Like most neighbours they did not object, until the bungalow was up to the damp course and they realized the plans showed the bungalow on a raised platform as protection against flooding, a point raised by them in the first place, to try to put Harvey off. After much discussion, the neighbours threatened to take Harvey to court, to stop him building, but as there was no case to answer it never got that far. They then offered him £80 compensation, if he ceased work, whereupon Harvey told them that £800 may possibly cover his expenses to date. On this note the whole thing faded away, and the bungalow was built, with both living there happily until Ethel was tragically killed in a road accident, whilst returning from shopping on her motorized cycle.

The Siddall Caravan finished up parked in their garden providing extra accommodation for visitors, finally it was a potting shed, and the chassis was still there when the bungalow was sold. I spent many happy holidays sleeping in this caravan, and particularly remember often sharing a bed with my fathers Labrador dog, who on hot summer nights would decide it was too hot for both of us on the bed, and promptly push me off onto the floor.
On the death of his wife, Babs, his middle daughter, moved in to look after him until his death on Boxing Day 1974, after a falling off a step, placing books on top of a tall writing desk.

Ethel Walker (Mother of Connie, Babs and Esme; grandmother of Eric King, Malcolm Price(d.1962), Royston King, Gillian Summers, Judy Price, and Harvey, Penny, Carolyn and Clive Summers)

1858 (Est.) Samuel De-Wonham was born at Combe Rd Croydon. Father of Ethel Mary who in 1904 married Harvey Walker. He farmed Park Hill Farm Croydon. It is understood that Harvey and Ethel did not know each other in their younger years, however Harvey used to regularly pass the farm, and wished he could go in and play. It obviously appealed to him, as it would to any young budding engineer.

1885 Ethel Mary De Wonham was born in Croydon, and was brought up at Park Hill Farm, Combe Road. A housing estate exists today in Croydon named after the farm.
Ethel’s father was Samuel De-Wonham and had a brother Bertie who was a very keen Engineer, an interest he shared with his friend Harvey, who immediately courted and married his sister. Bertie's passion for cars led to the farm being converted to garages for use as a car hire business, using a fleet of Renault Launderettes, providing a chauffeur service. Bertie also sold petrol in locked cans, later converting to very modern hand pumps.

Ethel in her day was a very forward woman, particularly as far as motoring was concerned. Before the 1920's she rode a motorcycle anywhere she felt she had to go. It must be remembered in those days women did not normally drive cars, let alone an m/c. Before electric lights were available, Ethel was known to regularly ride her bike through the New Forest at night; many men would not have attempted this feat in the conditions that prevailed before 1920.
Ethel was a fine woman and an example to all of us who had the privilege to know her. She was killed in a tragic road accident outside the entrance to her dream bungalow in West Bay Road Bridport in 1960, at the age of 74. At the time of her accident she was returning from shopping on her Motorized Bicycle, when she swerved in front of a bus and was killed instantly.