Source: Jonathan Straw post at 18th Battalion Facebook Group.
Family Search: When Sergeant James Beresford Walker Sr. was born on 7 December 1870, in Brompton, Kent, England, United Kingdom, his father, James Berressford Walker, was 48 and his mother, Emma Bauckham, was 35. He married Louisa Alice Taylor on 24 December 1896, in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the parents of at least 2 sons and 4 daughters. He immigrated to Woodstock, Oxford, Ontario, Canada in 1910 and lived in London, Ontario, Canada in 1920 and Windsor, Essex, Ontario, Canada in 1921. He registered for military service in 1914. In 1940, his occupation is listed as postal worker in Windsor, Essex, Ontario, Canada. He died on 25 August 1962, in Maidstone Township, Essex, Ontario, Canada, at the age of 91, and was buried in Victoria Memorial Gardens, Oldcastle, Essex, Ontario, Canada.
Sergeant James Beresford Walker, reg. no. 52417.
This man enlisted at Woodstock, Ontario on 24 October 1914. He was a married cook and practiced the Anglican faith.
He was promoted Sergeant on 4 October 1914 and he and the rest of the 18th Battalion sailed from Halifax on 18 April 1915.
Training in England from May to 15 September 1915, the 18th Battalion arrived on the Continent on 15 September at Boulogne-sur-Mer and moved into the front line in Belgium in the latter part of that month.
Sergeant Walker received an 8 days’ leave on 13 February 1916.
He took ill on 17 April 1916 with neuralgia to his left leg and was admitted, first to No. 5 Canadian Field Ambulance, and then to No. 4 CFA. The prognosis was changed to myalgia, and he was then transferred to the N. Mid Divisional Casualty Clearing Station and then onto No. 15 CCS. He was then transferred to No. 11 General Hospital at Camiers, France and was transferred to England aboard the H.S. Dieppe for further treatment.
In England, he was treated at the Edinburgh War Hospital (admitted 8 May 1916) and taken in strength with the CCAC. He was transferred to The King’s Canadian Red Cross Hospital at Derbyshire. He was diagnosed with sub-acute rheumatism, which changed his category status and hence, his chance to return to active service.
He returned to Canada on the SS Mauretania on 18 October 1916. and was transferred to Special Service Company, Military District 1, London, Ontario.
He was discharged medically unfit at London, Ontario on 2 August 1919.
Notice of Sgt. Walker acting as witness to a wedding:
10357-25 Lawrence George PRAY, 24, printer, Windsor, same, s/o Joseph PRAY, b. Ont & Margaret Elizabeth FENWICK, married Louise Beresford WALKER, 27, London England, Sandwich, d/o James WALKER, b. England & Louisa TAYLOR, witn: Margaret Beresford WALKER & James Beresford WALKER, both of Sandwich, 14 July 1925 at Sandwich.
History of the 18th Battalion CEF, "The Fighting Eighteenth" 