George Walters - Later Life

Later Life

Shortly after the wedding, on 5 January 1857 George left the Army and joined the Metropolitan Police as Constable 444 of R Division. It was more than a year after the Royal Warrant was signed that the first awards of the VC were published in the London Gazette on 24 February 1857. The formal, rather stilted language of citations hardly ever conveys the violence, danger and sheer excitement of the actions, which win awards. George Walter's deed was gazetted as follows:

Sergeant George Walters highly distinguished himself at the Battle of Inkermann, in having rescued Brigadier-General Adams, C.B., when surrounded by Russians, one of whom he bayoneted

On 21 June 1857, Mary Ann Walters gave birth to a son named James Isaac Walters. The Birth Certificate states that George Walters was now a Police Constable and they lived at 10 Lucas Street in Deptford, Kent.

The Queen made it plain to Lord Panmure that she herself wished to bestow her new award on as many of the recipients as possible. The 26 June 1857 was chosen by the Queen as a suitable day, and that a grand parade should be laid on in Hyde Park and that she would 'herself' attend on horseback. The final list of recipients was not published in the London Gazette until 22 June, and Hancock's had to work around the clock to engrave the names of the recipients on the Crosses. Those destined to receive the award had somehow to be found and rushed up to London, together with detachments of the units in which they had served. Queen Victoria caused some consternation by electing to stay on horseback throughout the ceremony of awarding the sixty-two recipients with the Cross. An extract in Queen Victoria’s Day Diary is as follows:

“It was a beautiful sight, & everything admirably arranged. All the Royal Family, including little Leopold, followed in carriages. The road all along was kept clear, & there was no pushing or squeezing. Constant cheering & noises of every kind, but the horses went beautifully. George & the Staff met just within the Quadrangle Entrance of the Palace, & preceded us. The sight in Hyde Park was very fine, the tribunes & stands, full of spectators, the Royal one being in the centre. After riding down the Line the ceremony of giving medals, began. There were 47 in number, with blue ribbons for the Navy, & red, for the Army. I remained on horseback, fastening the medals, or crosses, on recipient . Some were in plain clothes, - one a Gate Keeper & one a Policeman*. Lord Panmure stood to my left, handing me the medals, & to my right, Sir C. Wood, whilst the naval men were being decorated, & Sir G. Weatherall; for the soldiers, each reading the names out, as the men came up”.

The Policeman was of course George Walters and George was the 51st person to receive the Victoria Cross. A total of 12 Victoria Cross medals were awarded to those who fought in the Battle of Inkermann.

The Times, on the following day published the following article:

“A new epoch in our military history was yesterday inaugurated in Hyde Park. The old and much abused campaign medal may now be looked upon as a reward, but it will cease to be sought after as a distinction, for a new order is instituted - an order for merit and valour, open, without regard to rank or title, to all whose conduct in the field has rendered them prominent for courage even in the British army. A path is left open to this ambition of the humblest soldier - a road is open to honour which thousands have toiled, and pined, and died in the endeavour to attain, and private soldiers may now look forward to wearing a real distinction which kings might be proud to have earned the right to bear.... The display of yesterday in point of numbers was a great metropolitan gathering - it was a concourse such as only London could send forth....

The persons who composed the fashionable portion of the visitors, if we may so term those who were admitted to the reserved seats, were very punctual in their attendance, and every part of the great expanse of platform was well covered soon after 9 o ·clock. The heat throughout the entire proceedings was intense; the ladies seemed to suffer much from it, and even strong, hearty gentlemen were not too fastidious to extemporize rude fans from coat-tails, handkerchiefs, and morning journals or any suitable material at hand. Not a breath of air seemed stirring, and the standard which marked the Queen's position drooped heavily down, as if it too suffered from the sun and was incapable of fluttering or active motion. Everybody simmered into a state of aggravation, and everybody gasped and said how hot it was in a tone of private communication, as if the temperature was a State secret which must not be bruited abroad. In less tropical nooks, beneath the trees, costermongers drove a brave trade in the retail of liquids from portly-looking barrels which we fancy must have contained something better than water, as policemen formed the staple of their customers....

A few minutes before 10 o'clock the officers and men who were to receive the "high honour" of the Victoria Cross marched in single file across the park to the Queen's position. Their appearance created a deep sensation, and well it might, for upon a more distinguished band of soldiers the public have never yet gazed. One was a policeman, and wore his plain uniform as a constable of the R Division, No 444. This was George Walters, late Sergeant of the 49th Regiment who highly distinguished himself at lnkermann in rescuing General Adams when surrounded by Russians. Surely for such a man a better post may be found than that of a constable at 18s a week. Another in the dress of a park keeper was formerly a corporal in the 23rd, who volunteered on September the 8th to go out, under a murderous fire, to the front, after the attack on the Redan, and carry Lieutenant Dyneley - mortally wounded....

As they stood in a row, waiting the arrival of Her Majesty, one could not help feeling an emotion of sorrow that they were so few, and that the majority of the men who would have done honour even to the Victoria Cross lie in their shallow graves on the bleak cliffs of the Crimea....

Where were the men who climbed the heights of Alma, who hurried forward over the plain of Balaklava to almost certain death, who, wearied and outnumbered yet held their ground on that dismal morning when the valley of Inkermann seethed with flames and smoke like some vast hellish cauldron? Where are the troops who during that fearful winter toiled through the snow night after night, with just sufficient strength to drag their sick and wasted forms down to the trenches which became their graves? Let not these men be forgotten at such a time, nor while we pay all honour to the few survivors of that gallant little army omit a tribute to the brave who have passed away for ever....”

Another leading article that day commented on the events. It found much to praise but complained about the lack of seats and cover for the public. It concluded with some damning criticism.

“We have forgotten the Medal itself, or the Cross, rather, for such it is. Would we could forget it! Never did we see such a dull, heavy, tasteless affair. Much do we suspect that if it was on sale in any town in England at a penny a-piece, hardly a dozen would be sold in a twelve-month. There is a cross, and a lion, and a scroll or two worked up into the most shapeless mass that the size admits of. Valour must, and doubtless will, be still its own reward in this country, for the Victoria Cross is the shabbiest of all prizes.”

Regardless, the Queen managed to pin on the whole batch in just ten minutes, which does not suggest lengthy conversation, but the whole parade went off extremely well to the rapturous applause of more than 4,000 troops and 12,000 spectators.

George resigned from the Metropolitan Police on 26 October 1857 under Certificate No. 4 (1 = Excellent, 2 = Very Good. 3 = Good, and 4 = Open, i.e. no comment). Maybe he left the Mets after such a short period in order to join the Regents Park Police and hence the fairly innocuous reference. No further record exists of George Walters until the 1871 English Census. On 2 April 1871, George is shown as a visitor at North End, Newport Pagnell of the Maply family and his occupation is given as Park Keeper. Conversely, Mary Ann Walters is shown living at Lodge House, Park Crescent, Marylebone (the gatehouse to Regents Park) with sons James Isaac, aged 13, George, aged 12, and Ephraim Robert, aged 2. Mary gave her occupation as Park Constable’s wife. They are the only census records that record George Walters.

On 3 June 1872, George died at West Lodge, Park Crescent, Marylebone. In attendance was Dr. William Marsh of Harley Street Lodge. George had been suffering with Phthisis for three years, which literally means a wasting disease but almost invariably will mean pulmonary tuberculosis or any debilitating lung or throat affections, a severe cough, asthma. He was buried on 9 June 1872 in the City of Westminster Cemetery in Finchley.