2nd Lieut Turner Russell Walker

• Age: 22
• From: Birkenhead, Cheshire
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 18th Btn
• D.O.W Saturday 1st July 1916
• Commemorated at: Peronne Rd Cem Maricourt
  Panel Ref: IV.C.39

Turner Russell Walker was born in Birkenhead on 07th November 1893. He was the only son of James Watt Walker and his wife Mary Frances (nee Russell) who were married in 1892 at Birkenhead and lived during the war at "Yenda", 51 West Bank Road, Devonshire Park, Birkenhead. His father who was a Captain in the mercantile marine was reported to be a direct descendant of James Watt the famous engineer.

The 1901 Census finds the family living at his grandfather's address of 62 Park Road South, Birkenhead. Turner is recorded as 7 years of age. His mother Mary is 36 years of age and she was born in Liverpool. Also listed are Margaret aged 3, his grandfather Turner Russell, a widower aged 68 and born in Maryport, Rachel Russell, his aunt aged 31, Henry Russell his uncle aged 30 and Sarah Russell also his aunt aged 22. There is also a servant, Elizabeth Jones and a housemaid, Annie Jones recorded as living on the premises.

His mother Mary Frances died in the fourth quarter of 1909 aged 44. 

The 1911 Census finds the family still living at 62 Park Road South. Turner is now 17 years of age and recorded as a junior clerk in a shipowner's office. His father James is present, he is now 47 years of age and a widower born in Maryport. His grandfather Turner Russell aged 78 and aunt Sarah Lightfoot aged 32 are also present as are two servants, Eleanor Mears and Margaret Jane Jones.   

His grandfather Turner Russell was a master mariner and worked throughout his life with Lamport and Holt, later Alfred Holt & Company. He is said to have been a schoolmate of Sir Thomas Ismay and to have dined with Ferdinand de Lesseps of Suez Canal Fame and Captain Semmes of the US Confederate Navy ship the CSS Alabama. He was believed to have been the last to see Semmes alive in the Bay of Biscay before the Alabama was sunk by the Union steam sloop Kersearge on 19th June 1864. He was one of the founders of the Lamport and Holt line and when he died in 1918 he was the only one of the original founders left.      

On completion of his schooling Turner Russell joined the Holt Shipping Line which held such connections to the family.

He enlisted at St George's Hall in Liverpool on 03rd September 1914 joining the 18th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 17007. His enlistment papers show his occupation as a clerk. He is described as 5' 8 inches tall, weight recorded as 135lbs. He was of fresh complexion with hazel yes and brown hair. His religion was recorded as Presbyterian. 

He was commissioned into his Battalion as a 2nd Lieutenant on the 07th April 1915, but remained in the UK, to take a signalling course, when the 18th Battalion embarked for France on the 07th November 1915 and joined his Battalion in the Field on 15th March 1916.

He is not mentioned in the 18th Battalion’s War Diary, however until his fatal wounding on 01st July 1916, at Montauban, during the first day of the Battle of the Somme.

The Battalion’s objectives on that day, were the capture of the German front and support line trenches, and the German fortified position known as the Glatz Redoubt, to allow the 19th Battalion The Manchester Regiment, to follow through and capture the village of Montauban. The German front line trenches fell according to the plan, but as the Battalion tried to leave the German support line, its advance was held up by enfilading fire from a machine-gun firing from Alt, on the left flank. This gun was further protected by snipers and bombers who held a position in Alt Trench, at right angles to Alt Alley, and who were hidden by a rough tree hedge. These bombers and snipers were themselves supported by rifle fire from Train Alley, which ran back to Montauban itself.

Eventually Lieutenant H C Watkins led a party of bombers towards the position in Alt Trench and one of these, with great luck, hurled a grenade which exploded in the midst of the Germans killing two and driving the rest back into Train Alley. This action allowed the advance to continue, as the Germans retreated or sought shelter in deep dugouts, where they were bombed, and the Battalion was able to take its main objective, the Glatz Redoubt.

Turner Russell Walker was in command of a Platoon for the attack on the 01st July 1916, he was badly wounded during the advance and was attended to by stretcher bearers who dressed his wounds and placed him on a stretcher to take him to 97 Field Ambulance where he died the same day, aged 22.

In a letter to his parents at the time, his death was described as follows:

"It appears that your son was badly wounded on July 1st (the day of the advance). He was dressed on the battlefield by the stretcher bearers, but died on his way to the proper dressing station. He was buried by the Chaplain of The Wiltshire Regiment along with 14 others at the foot of a little wood on the side of a hill. In happier times, it would be a beautiful spot. A large cross bearing all the names, marks the grave, and later on, each grave will have its own cross."

Maricourt was, at the beginning of the Battles of the Somme 1916, the point of junction of the British and French forces, and within a very short distance of the front line; it was lost in the German advance of March 1918, and recaptured at the end of the following August.

The Cemetery, originally known as Maricourt Military Cemetery No.3, was begun by fighting units and Field Ambulances in the Battles of the Somme 1916, and used until August 1917; a few graves were added later in the War, and at the Armistice it consisted of 175 graves which now form almost the whole of Plot I. It was completed after the Armistice by the concentration of graves from the battlefields in the immediate neighbourhood and from certain smaller burial grounds, including:-

TALUS BOISE BRITISH CEMETERY, CARNOY, between Carnoy and Maricourt, at the South end of a long copse. It was used in the latter half of 1916 and (chiefly by the 5th Royal Berks) in August 1918, and it contained the graves of 175 soldiers from the United Kingdom and five from South Africa.

There are now 1348, 1914-18 war casualties commemorated in this site. Of these, 366 are unidentified and special memorials are erected to 26 soldiers from the United Kingdom known or believed to be buried among them. Other special memorials record the names of three soldiers from the United Kingdom, buried in other cemeteries, whose graves could not be found.

The cemetery covers an area of 3,787 square metres and is enclosed on three sides by a low red brick wall.

Soldiers Effects to father Capt. James Watt Walker, no Pension record found.

The post war HMSO publication, ‘Officers Died in the Great War ‘, wrongly lists his date of death from wounds as 2nd July 1916, although the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records show that his death took place on 01st July 1916. 

He is commemorated on the grave of his maternal grandparents. The inscription on the family gravestone in Flaybrick Hill Cemetery, Birkenhead says:

TURNER RUSSELL WALKER, GRANDSON, 2ND LIEUTENANT 18TH BATTN. KING’S LIVERPOOL REGIMENT, KILLED IN ACTION, 01ST JULY 1916, BURIED IN FRANCE, AGED 22.

Turner Walker left estate valued at £98 7s 10d. 

He is also remembered on the following Memorials:

Birkenhead War Memorial located in Hamilton Square, Birkenhead,

Alfred Holt Blue Funnel Line war memorial which is now preserved by Ocean Group Company in India Building, Water Street, Liverpool

We currently have no further information on Turner Russell Walker, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.