He is famous for saving Winchester Cathedral from collapse. He trained as a diver at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1887, and after working as a diver's attendant and diver's signal man, qualified as a deep water diver in 1892. He became the most experienced diver of Siebe Gorman Ltd, and in 1906 was chosen to shore up the foundations of Winchester Cathedral, which was in danger of collapse due to being built on waterlogged peat. He worked for six hours a day in total darkness to fill two hundred and thirty five pits under the foundations with concrete. Each weekend he cycled one hundred and fifty miles to his home in Croydon and back. In 1912 he was presented with a silver rose bowl by King George V at a thanksgiving service to celebrate the successful completion of his work. His eventful career as a diver also included a colliery rescue operation, working on the building of the Blackwall Tunnel and the construction of the naval docks in Gibraltar. He also assisted Sir Leonard Hill with his development of linear decompression tables. He was a victim of the Spanish flu epidemic of 1918, and is commemorated by a statue in the Cathedral that he saved. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/36719460/william-walker
Interesting story Clive, The Flu epidemic also claimed many soldiers lives during that period of time. Graham.
It also claimed my grandmother 10 days after my father was born Afraid we havent been supplied with any emoticons with tears in their eyes otherwise I would have posted one - there was talk when we changed to the new forum site software that new ones might be coming, but have never seen any, pperhpas this might act as a bump to those in the know TD
Just did a quick google and it seems more people died of the Flu 1918-1919 than the whole of WW1. Absolutely staggering figures. Graham.
Yes - about 50 million or something along those lines I would have liked to have met my real grandmother - although my step grandmother was a lovely lady Real grandmother TD
