The aim of the Walker Family History Project is to collect and record genealogical information about the surname Walker. This information is freely available for people researching their Walker ancestors, and has been gathered from a wide range of sources. These include baptism and birth records, census returns, marriage records and trade records amongst others.
The surname Walker is an 'occupational' name that derives from the term used to describe a fuller of cloth. Before the invention of mills and machines for fulling, wool was cleaned and thicken by being soaked in water and trampled under foot, and the people who did this came to be given the name Walker, due to their occupation of 'walking' on the wool. As a consequence of this the surname is most frequent in the traditional textile heartland's of northern England, such as Yorkshire. In fact one of the earliest Walker's on record is one Robert le Walker who is mentioned in the Yorkshire Assize Rolls for the year 1260.