WALKER, ROBERT, SURGEON PROBATIONER, ROYAL NAVAL VOLUNTEER RESERVE

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Overview

Sepia print. Studio portrait of Robert Walker in uniform of an officer of Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. He is facing the camera: cap in one hand, cane and gloves in the other. He is wearing a white shirt and tie and a double breasted jacket with metal buttons and the distinctive 'wavy' braid of the Naval Reserve on the cuffs. The portrait is mounted on a dark mat with shaded borders and beneath the image is printed in script [E.R. Yerbury & Son, Churchill, Edinburgh.].

Historical information

Robert (Bob) Walker was born in Fremantle in 1893 to Annie and Charles Walker, a boatbuilder. He attended Fremantle Boys School where he excelled and in 1905 was awarded a scholarship to Scotch College, Claremont. He and his friends spent much of their spare time rowing and sailing on the Swan River. In 1910 he was Dux of the school. In 1911 he won the first UWA Exhibition and, keen to study medicine, enrolled at Adelaide University. His results won him a place as a student of Medicine at Edinburgh University in 1912. There he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve. His final year of study coincided with the declaration of the First World War. He enlisted in the Royal Navy and was given the rank of Surgeon Probationer and posted to HMS Lynx on 23 July 1915. On arrival at his destination he was told the Lynx had been mined in the North Sea with a loss of 75 lives, and he was re-assigned to HMS Shark, patrolling the English Channel and North Sea. On May 31, 1916, during the Battle of Jutland, HMS Shark was ordered to attack the oncoming German ships. Robert Walker attended the many casualties. He was injured and then apparently killed shortly before the ship sank. His body was never recovered. Tributes were written, praising his briliance as a scholar and his valour under fire and heroic attempts to help injured shipmates.

Details

Registration number

cwa-org-28--14-43-

Item type

Photographs

Last modified

Sunday, 8 February, 2026

Completeness

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Town of Claremont Museum