Walker
,a proper name, is generally supposed to be wealcere, a fuller, but the derivation of ancient names from trades is to be received with great caution. It is far more probable that Walker is derived from the old High German walah, Anglo-Saxon wealh, a foreigner or borderer; whence Wallack, Walk, Walkey, Walliker, and many others. (See Brewer.)
Helen Walker. The prototype of Jeanie Deans. Sir Walter Scott caused a tombstone to be erected over her grave in the churchyard of Irongray, stewartry of Kirkcudbright. In 1869 Messrs. A. and C. Black caused a headstone of red freestone to be erected in Carlaverock churchyard to the memory of Robert Paterson, the Old Mortality of the same novelist, buried there in 1801.
Hookey Walker. John Walker was an outdoor clerk at Longman, Clementi, and Co.’s, Cheapside, and was noted for his eagle nose, which gained him the nickname of Old Hookey. Walker’s office was to keep the workmen to their work, or report them to the principals. Of course it was the interest of the employées to throw discredit on Walker’s reports, and the poor old man was so badgered and ridiculed that the firm found it politic to abolish the office, but Hookey Walker still means a tale not to be trusted. (John Bee.)
