Canadian investigates Walker family trail

Duncan Sutherland, who is originally from Western Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, is a graduate of history, and has long been fascinated by his family’s link with Londonderry and the Siege.

“There is a gap in the family tree. One of my great-great-grandfathers was a guy called Jacob Walker, who was born in 1846 and came to Canada in the 20s. One of his daughters was Eleanor and she visited the Apprentice Boys in the late 50s or 60s, and there is an actual picture of her in the Memorial Hall,” said Duncan.

“Under the picture it says that she is a descendant of Governor Walker, and she is my great-great-Aunt. I have an article that was sent to her in the early 60s from Londonderry about the Governor Walker family tree. They think his family line died out, but he had two brothers and I think we could be descended from one of his brothers and not actually from Governor Walker,” he said, adding: “There is a gap and I think Walker’s line died out.”

On the trail of his heritage, Duncan, who came to the UK in 1997 as a doctoral student of history in Cambridge, said notes had been written by a great-Aunt and his mother had told him about family relics. He understood from these matriarchs that the family had relics relating to the Siege.

“There was a flag and some military buttons from a uniform, but the Apprentice Boys Museum does not have them and at the weekend I was at St Columb’s Cathedral looking to see if they were part of the Siege Collection there.

“I spoke to Ian Bartlett a guide at the Cathedral, who told me that a civic museum had existed, but was bombed in the Troubles and there is a possibility that the relics were destroyed,” he said.

Duncan came over to Londonderry on Thursday with his wife, Julia, and they returned to London on Sunday after a brief few days of research.

Duncan’s first job after Cambridge was at Queen’s University, Belfast, for two years, and he left there to go to London where he met and subsequently married Julia nine years ago. This was his first visit back to Londonderry since 2003.

As part of their whistlestop visit at the weekend the couple were able to catch the early morning parades in the city, and for Duncan the wreath-laying ceremony was the most moving moment of the colourful spectacle.