WINCHESTER 2001

The William Walker Statues
The Society Rights a Wrong

On the left, the real William Walker. On the right, the statue with the features of Sir Francis Fox.

The story of William Walker, the diver who saved Winchester Cathedral by shoring up its foundations, working in nil visibility for months on end, is now well known. Walker was awarded the MVO by king George V who pronounced that he had "saved the cathedral with his own two hands". William Walker died during the flu epidemic of 1918 but his extraordinary achievement continued to fascinate the general public.

The BBC celebrated the 50th anniversary of his achievement in 1956 with contributions from his diving tender, William West, and this was followed by other radio and TV coverage.

After the first broadcast, the Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire offered to finance a statue of Walker to stand in the cathedral. Norman Pierce, a distinguished local sculptor, was commissioned to do it. Unfortunately soon afterwards the commission was handed to Sir Charles Wheeler, President of the Royal Academy instead. When Sir Charles's statue was eventually unveiled, the relatives present were horrified to see, not the broad benign and mustachioed face of "their William", but the sharper features of the resident engineer, Sir Francis Fox. A photo had been given as a guide and the sculptor had picked the wrong man!

The authorities were covered in confusion and embarrassment but refused to discuss the matter further.

Norman Pierce, the original sculptor, continued to work quietly and found the subject of William Walker fascinated him. He produced a statue and also a larger-than-life bust. The press and TV became aware of their existence but suggestions that the statue should be cast for the cathedral were rejected by the Dean and Chapter.

During the 1970s, Mary Ashton, a former student and friend of Norman's campaigned tirelessly but unsuccessfully to get his work in the cathedral.

During the 1980s and 1990s various publications featured the story and suggested a change but successive Deans refused to reconsider.

In 1997 Gary Potter, researching the career of William Walker, met Norman Pierce's widow Dorothy and saw the splendid statue and bust that he had created. At an HDS book meeting, Gary suggested that perhaps we should try again. I took this to the committee who agreed and Gary and I first approached a new Dean, the Very Reverend Michael Till in August 1997.

He listened carefully to our arguments and then, to our delight, agreed that "something should be done". He warned us that it would take time as a number of national bodies and cathedral committees would have to give their approval. We continued to check on progress every month and by 1998 the Chapter had agreed to the erection of a new statue in the cathedral and to the possible placing of the bust in the grounds. Mrs. Pierce generously offered to provide final versions of both.

In 1999, however, the "fabric committee" decided not to accept the statue but to commission another! It was confirmed that the bust would be erected in the open outside the cathedral's Visitor Centre.

The new statue was created by Glynn Williams of the Royal College of Art and unveiled in the cathedral during Evensong on the 3rd June 2001. The Dean in his address spoke about William Walker's achievements and his pleasure in being able to provide at long last a more realistic statue of the famous diver.

Finally the bust was unveiled by Mrs. Pierce on the 7th October 2001. Following the event we organized a celebratory lunch in the William Walker restaurant of the nearby Wessex Hotel. This was attended by over 60 of William's relatives and members of the Historical Diving Society and after lunch Gary spoke on Walker's achievements at the cathedral and I gave an outline of the attempts to replace the statue. This was followed by two TV clips on the subject.

The lunch was attended by our President and by Mary Ashton and Dorothy
Pierce who took the opportunity to present her late husband's statue of William
Walker to the Society.

We are proud that these developments have ensured that William Walker MVO, who had stood blushing in the cathedral in July 1912 as his efforts were praised by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the presence of King George V and Queen Mary, has been properly commemorated at last.