Francis Edwin WALTON (1899-1969)

Francis Edwin Walton (1899-1969), known as Edwin, was the great-nephew of Eugénie Sladden, being the grandson of her sister, Mary Anna Robinson.

Edwin was born at Pembridge House, Strawberry Hill, Twickenham, on 6^th February 1899, the eldest of five children of Charles Henry and Fanny Walton.  He was baptized on 18^th March 1899 at Holy Trinity Church, Richmond.  He is mentioned in 16 letters written by his grandmother, Mary Anna (Polly) Robinson, to her sister, Eugénie, and one letter by his great-uncle, Fred Mourilyan. 

Edwin suffered from delicate health in his teenage years.  In early 1915 the letters reveal that he went daily to a college in London rather than go away to school.  Towards the end of 1915 he was advised to drop his studies for the time being and went away to a special place for young people in Banff for six months which was kept by a doctor.  By March 1916, Edwin had returned from Banff and was working on a farm at Mayfield.

Edwin became eligible for conscription in 1917.  He appeared before the Middlesex Appeal Tribunal and was granted exemption on the grounds of ill-health.

Despite disruptions in schooling, Edwin went on to become a solicitor.  On 21^st September 1929 Edwin married Sheila Mary Magrath at Holy Trinity, Brook Green, London, and had a son and a daughter.

Edwin died in 1969; his widow died in 1990.