William Walker was born in Thistleton in September 1892, the elder brother of Edgar and Herbert Walker who also both died in the First World War. The three brothers were among 12 children of William and Elizabeth Walker. The family lived in Thistleton for many years, indeed William Senior was also born there. But by 1911 the family had moved across the county border to Duddington in Northamptonshire and then shortly before the war began they moved to near Atherstone in Warwickshire. William enlisted in Grantham with the 8th Battalion Lincolnshire Regiment. He died on 26 September 1915, six months after Edgar had been killed. He has no known grave and is remembered on panel 34 of the Loos Memorial. There is no war memorial in Thistleton and William is not remembered in George Phillips' Rutland and the Great War. However all three brothers are remembered on the war memorial at Duddington.

In November 2013, the three memorial scrolls recording the brothers' deaths and sent from Buckingham Palace to their family, came up for sale with Bosleys Military Auctioneers. The estimate was £60-£100 although we do not know what the sale made.