Biography

Walton, Sir William Turner (1902-1983), composer, was born at 93 Werneth Hall Road, Oldham, Lancashire, on 29 March 1902, the second son among the four children (three sons and a daughter) born to Charles Alexander Walton (1867-1924?) and his wife, Louisa Maria Turner (1866-1954). His siblings were Noel (b. 1899), Nora (b. 1908), and Alexander (b. 1910). Charles Walton was born in Hale, Cheshire, the son of an Inland Revenue official. He met Louisa Turner, an amateur contralto who was born in Stretford in 1866, at a recital in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester. They were married in Chorlton on 10 August 1898 and set up home in Oldham, where Charles worked in an ironworks, although he described himself on his marriage certificate as a singing teacher. He had been (at the age of twenty-six) one of the first intake of pupils when the Royal Manchester College of Music opened in 1893 with Sir Charles Hallé as its principal. After his marriage Charles Walton taught music at Hulme grammar school, Oldham, and for twenty-one years was organist and choirmaster of St John's Church, Werneth, in addition to teaching elsewhere. According to his son William he was a very good baritone. His sons Noel and William were among his choristers; he had a violent temper, and if one of them made a mistake he rapped him on the knuckles with his ring ('it hurt'; Sitwell, 174) .

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