 | The topic of this articlemay not meet Wikipedia'snotability guideline for biographies. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citingreliable secondary sources that areindependent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to bemerged,redirected, ordeleted. Find sources: "Eric Sherbrooke Walker" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(February 2025) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Eric Sherbrooke Walker | |
|---|---|
 Portrait, approx 1910 | |
| Born | 4 July 1887 Edgbaston, Birmingham, United Kingdom |
| Died | 13 May 1976 (aged 88) Majorca, Spain |
| Other names | James Barbican |
| Occupations | military officer, Boy Scout inspector, hotelier |
| Known for | contribution to theScout Movement,Treetops Hotel |
| Spouse | Elizabeth Mary "Bettie" Feilding |
| Children | Honor Sherbrooke Hurley (21 March 1929, Nyeri - 3 December 2016) |
MajorEric George Sherbrooke Walker,MC (1887–1976) was ahotelier and founder of theOutspan Hotel andTreetops Hotel inKenya, as well as a decorated military officer. He is remembered as the host of QueenElizabeth II andPrince Philip when they visited Treetops in 1952, where they received news of the death of KingGeorge VI and Elizabeth's accession to the throne.
The son of Reverend George Sherbrooke Walker and Jessie Elizabeth Carter, Eric Walker was born inEdgbaston, Birmingham, Warwickshire, on 4 July 1887 and brought up inMarch (now inCambridgeshire) where his father wasrector of St Wendreda's Church.[1] He was educated atOakham School andKing Edward's, Edgbaston and then read Theology atThe Queen's College, Oxford.
After graduating in 1908, Walker was associated with theScout Movement and was a personal secretary toRobert Baden-Powell. He was one of the first two Boy Scout inspectors, overseeing Wales and the South of England. He was present at Baden-Powell's first Scout camp inHumshaugh in 1908 and conducted a demonstration tour of Canada with sixteen Boy Scouts in 1910.[2]
Walker was commissioned in the infantry in August 1914.[3] He transferred to theRoyal Flying Corps. On Thu 25 February 1915, Baden-Powell's wife wrote in her diary
"A day of great excitement for Ewhurst; 8.45 Eric Walker literally flew over on his way to France & landed by the church for breakfast with us. Glorious to see him sail humming away into the mist – to what?"
On 4 July 1915, his 28th birthday, his aeroplane came down behind enemy lines and he was held as aprisoner of war inGermany. He is said to have made 36 attempts to escape.[4] Apparently, on one occasion, a German girlfriend from before the war helped him by supplying him withwire cutters provided by Baden-Powell hidden inside a piece ofham. He kept a diary of that period, published in 2014 as "Avoiding Archie: The Flying Corps Diary of Captain Walker".[5]
After the First World War ended, he was employed as a temporary captain on theGeneral List, fighting against theBolsheviks with the British Military Mission inSouth Russia alongside theWhite Army in theRussian Civil War. He was awarded theMilitary Cross for his gallantry at Ushun in theCrimea on 8 and 10 March 1920, where he attached himself to the Police Regiment and remained with them throughout the two days of counter-attacks, during which they sustained heavy casualties. By his personal example and coolness, under heavy machine-gun fire, he was largely responsible for the decisive success gained.[6] In addition, he received theOrder of St. Anna and theOrder of St. Stanislaus from the White Russian authorities.[7]
Walker returned to England after the war and became engaged then married to Lady Elizabeth Mary "Bettie" Feilding, the daughter ofRudolph Feilding, 9th Earl of Denbigh, on 26 July 1926.[2]
Needing money to finance his marriage, he ran abootlegging business, smuggling liquor into America during theProhibition era, while his fiancée Lady Bettie worked as social secretary in theBritish Embassy inWashington DC. When Walker shot and wounded a corrupt state trooper who had tried to steal his cache ofwhiskey, the couple fled to Canada. Walker later wroteThe Confessions of a Rum-Runner under thepseudonym of "James Barbican"' about his life during this period.[8]
The couple emigrated to theKenya Colony, where Walker purchased approximately 70 acres (28 ha) ofCrown Land inNyeri and - in 1928 - opened theOutspan Hotel, overlooking thegorge of the Chania River in theAberdare Range (near the present dayAberdare National Park).[7]
In 1932, he opened the adjunctTreetops Hotel as a night-viewing station for wildlife. These business ventures may have been based on profits made during his bootlegging days in America.[2]
In 1938, Baden-Powell retired to the Outspan Hotel (Baden-Powell once remarked "closer to Nyeri, closer to bliss"). He bought a share of Walker's hotel business to pay for his one-room cottagePaxtu (now home to a Scout museum) in the hotel grounds.[9] Baden-Powell died on 8 January 1941 and is buried at St Peter's Cemetery in Nyeri.[10] His grave there is a Kenyan National Monument.
Walker was 52 whenWorld War II broke out but he saw further military service, first enlisting in theRoyal Air Force and then going on to serve with the South African forces inAbyssinia and in the Western Desert during theNorth African campaign, narrowly avoiding capture atSidi Rezegh.[7]
He was host to Princess Elizabeth and her husband, theDuke of Edinburgh, during their February 1952 visit to Kenya. The couple had accepted an invitation to spend a night at Treetops and arrived there on the afternoon of 5 February 1952. During the night, unknowingly, the Princess succeeded to theBritish throne. Her father, King George VI, died atSandringham in England in the early hours of 6 February and the Princess received the news later that day, after leaving Treetops, at theSagana Lodge.[7]
Walker was again employed on military duties during theMau Mau Uprising in the early 1950s. Treetops was offered as a lookout point for theKing's African Rifles but it was burned down byMau Mau fighters on 27 May 1954. Walker built a bigger hotel at the same location in 1957,[11] and business prospered - encouraged by public interest in the accession of Elizabeth II some years earlier. His hotel business was featured inNational Geographic magazine and celebrities, includingCharles Chaplin andPaul McCartney, visited the hotel.[2] Walker wrote a book about his life in Kenya, namedTreetops Hotel.[12]
The hunterJim Corbett moved to Kenya after theIndependence of India, took up residence at the Outspan and became a resident hunter at Treetops. A house on the Walkers' farm was used during the shooting of the filmBorn Free.[2]
An avid hunter during his younger days, Walker became an advocate ofwildlife conservation in his final years in Kenya.
He retired to live inMajorca, Spain and died there at his home,Cás Fidavé, on 13 May 1976.[4]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
