The
Unofficial WebsiteThe Walker Family
The Walkers, Jonathan, Samuel and Aaron family came to Rotherham in 1746 when they leased a site off Masbrough Street. Their father was a nailer by trade, but nailmaking in those days was a job pursued in the agricultural off season and not the best paid of trades. The brothers together with a relative, John Crawshaw began experiment in smelting about 1741. By 1746 the brothers obviously felt confident enough to undertake the enterprise at Masbrough.
They built casting houses, two reverbatory furnaces and a smithy in Holmes. Samuel also went into partnership with John Booth to produce blister steel. They made cooking pots and castings. A new water-powered forge was built in 1754, whilst in 1758 they expanded onto the site of the Holmes Slitting Mills where there was a blast furnace and rolling mill. In a few decades they built the business into one of the largest iron and steel concerns in the country. They exerted great influence on the life of the town. They built houses at Eastwood, Clifton and Ferham.
Aaron Walker
b.1718 d.1777
Aaron was a farm worker who began experiments in casting with a relative, John Crawshaw, in
1741.
Jonathan Walker
b.1710 d.1778
Jonathan managed the family farms at Grenoside. He was in charge of transport at the
ironworks.
Jonathan Walker, son of the Jonathan Walker above b.1756 or 57 d.1807
He resided at Ferham House in Rotherham and was a Justice of the Peace. He founded the
Independent College at Masbrough.
Samuel Walker
b.1715 d.1782
Samuel kept a School at Grenoside where he taught reading, writing, and arithmetic. He also
did some land surveying and made sun dials before going into business with his brothers.
Samuel had four sons who succeeded to the partnership on his death.
Samuel b.1742 – d.1792
Joshua b.17?? – d.1815) of Clifton House and Blythe Hall, Worksop
Joseph b.1752 – d.1801) of Eastwood, Rotherham and Mansfield
Thomas b.1756 – d.1828) of Holmes
| Samuel Walker Not sure which one!  |
Joshua Walker  |
Samuel and Aaron were early converts to Methodism but joined the split in the Methodist Meeting that followed the Calvinism of George Whitfield. Whitfield believed in predestination, the Wesleys in freewill; hence the split as they are or were mutually exclusive doctrines. They built a Meeting House or Independent Chapel in Masbrough in 1762 and the Walker Mausoleum.
In 1792 they founded a bank, the Sheffield and Rotherham Bank; the Royal Bank of Scotland currently inhabits their original site.
In 1795 Jonathan's son, Jonathan, founded the Rotherham Independent Academy, an independent college at Masbrough to train students for the ministry.
In 1833 the Walkers' iron and steel partnership was dissolved.