Literary scholar. Born at Pembroke, he was educated at Eton and the University of Cambridge, where he won the Craven Scholarship (1817) and Porson prize for Greek verse (1818). He was elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1820. Religious doubts made it impossible for him to proceed to ordination and led to the resignation of his Fellowship in 1829. From then until the end of his life, Walker lived off annuities from Winthrop Mackworth Praed (1802–1839; DNB), an old friend, and from Trinity, his old college. He moved to London in 1831. Mental health problems, which made social interaction difficult, had a major impact on his later years. However, he remained capable of occasional literary work. Walker had become a close friend of Derwent Coleridge’s during the latter’s time as an undergraduate in Cambridge. It was possibly through this connection that in December 1823, Walker wrote to Southey requesting biographical information about William Gilbert. Southey obliged, but emphasised the importance of not disclosing to the public information that would distress Gilbert’s surviving close relations.