Person

Walker, James Scott

1793–1850

Walker was born in St. Cyrus, near Montrose, Scotland. He spent several years as a merchant in the West Indies and South America, learning French and Spanish. He was in Caracas, Venezuela, during the 1812 earthquake. Around 1817 he moved to Liverpool and worked for a mercantile house for 4 years, publishing in local periodicals. On the firm's dissolution, he became editor of a newspaper in Chester, before joining the Liverpool Mercury & Kaleidoscope as associate editor, a position he held for more than 7 years. He left to found a literary and scientific publication, The Lancashire Literary Museum, editing and writing most of its content for a year. While in Liverpool he was a neighbor of poet William Roscoe, and a correspondent of Walter Scott. He joined the Preston Chronicle in 1831. He left the Chronicle to edit a new paper, the Preston Observer. He returned with his family to Liverpool, where he worked for more than 11 years with the Liverpool Standard. He published a History of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, with plans and views, in which he was assisted by the late George Stephenson.