William Walker I was born about 1468 in Littletown, a Hamlet (having no church) of Liversedge manor, which later became Liversedge Township, in Birstall Parish of Yorkshire, England. His parents names are unknown at this time.
It is extremely unlikely that a birth or baptismal record of William will ever be discovered as the Birstall Parish records did not exist until 1558. Therefore his approximate date of birth has been established from the following data through the tireless research efforts of Richard Walker of Formby, England:
a) A book entitled “Spen Valley; Past & Present” dated 1893 by Frank Peel, a historian of considerable stature, says;- “From the Book of Yorkshire Fines we learn who were the chief landowners in the Spen Valley villages of Cleckheaton, Liversedge and Heckmondwyke, from the reign of Henry the 8th, amongst whom were the Rayners, the Brookes, the Nevilles, the Walkers and others of Liversedge.”
b) An extract from the “West Riding Book of Rates”, found among the Yorkshire Archaeological Society records at Wakefield, Yorkshire, states;- In 1523 King Henry 8th of England was granted a “Subsidy” by Parliament to fight the King of France. This was a tax made on his more wealthy subjects. Lists were produced from each Manor to show the names of individuals and the amount of payment against land and/or goods. The following six names were recorded for Liversedge Manor;
This was a “Lay Subsidy” which was levied against “Income from lands, capital value of Goods, and Wages”. It was “Lay” because it applied only to ordinary folk (Lay People) and not to the Clergy. It was estimated that William Walker gained 40 shillings income per year from his land, so he was taxed 2 shillings, or 1/20 of his income, or to put it into modern terms he paid 5% tax. William was considered to be one of the more wealthy subjects amongst only six in the Manor that were eligible to be taxed. This should therefore indicate the standard of living in the early part of the16th century and allow a comparison to today’s cost of living.
From this documentation we can, with positive assurance, conclude that William I (designated the “1st” simply to identify him from his son and grandson to follow) was a wealthy yeoman of Liversedge and would have been about 55 years of age at the time of the tax in 1523.
See Biog. 01 for William II's biography.
Though marriage records are not available we calculate that William married in about 1497 as his son, William II, was born about 1498. At that time the average age of men when married was about 30 years. His wife’s name is unknown at this time and it is very unlikely that we will ever be able to find it due to the lack of records available. For the same reason William’s date of death is also unknown, though there is every possibility that he was buried in the Birstall Parish Churchyard of St. Peter’s, Yorkshire, England.
Sources:- Richard B. Walker, Formby, Eng. - Y.A.S., Wakefield, Yorkshire, Eng.
By:- R. B . Walker, Eng. & H. L. Walker Can., Rev.- 21 December, 2001