Major George Laird Walton (1868- ) R.E., O.B.E., M.I.Mech.E., M.I.N.A., Marine Engineer.
1868 Born son of Thomas Walton of Liverpool
Married Rhoda Robson of Lincoln.
1884-8 Apprenticeship, John Jones and Sons, marine engineers and shipbuilders, Liverpool.
1889-90 With Naval Armament and Construction Co. at Barrow-in-Furness.
1890-9 At sea and Engineer in charge of repairs and various shore staffs, including Cunard and White Star Steamship Cos., Liverpool.
1899-1911 Colonial Government Service, Lagos and Southern Nigeria Colonies; maintenance and supervision of all inland water craft.
1899 Assistant Superintendent Engineer, Engineering Department, Lagos Colony.
1902 Superintendent Engineer, Lagos Colony.
1904 Designed, erected and subsequently supervised all engineering works, Apapa (Lagos) Dockyard, supervised the removal of Akassi Dockyard and designed its re-erection at Forcadas. Designed, erected and had charge of the entire ice-making machinery and cold storage plant at Lagos.
1906 Started the construction of small steel vessels, including tug boats, motor and steam-driven launches, in the Colony with native labour.
1908 Superintendent Engineer, Southern Nigeria Marine Department, responsible for a fleet of over eighty steam and motor-driven craft, also three large dredgers operating on bar and deepening harbour.
1911 Retired on pension from the Colonial Government Service. Responsible for the Engineering Branch of four Colonial Dockyards with their respective European and Native staffs, situated at Lagos, Forcadas, Calabar and Akassa, in the Colony of Nigeria.
1912-4 Practised as Consulting Engineer in London.
WWI 1914-7 Lieutenant, Royal Army Ordnance Department; 2 years' service in France. Promoted Major, August, 1917, and awarded O.B.E. for special service at Malta.
1917-20 Transferred to Royal Engineers for special duty at Malta as Officer Commanding Inland Water Transport, Royal Engineers (Mesopotamia Section), for the purpose of receiving and dispatching the special fleet of craft for service on River Tigris.
Subsequently Marine Engineer Superintendent, Richborough, Kent, responsible for maintenance of Cross Channel Ferry Steamers and Fleet.
1920 Demobilized.