Dr Samuel Walker was a doctor of divinity, and the rector of a rich parish in Cornwall. His father, Edmund Walker, was a Master in the Court of Chancery. He had lent John Duncan money on the security of Duncan’s building agreement with Ladbroke. When Duncan went bankrupt, Richard Roy of Roy Blunt and Johnstone, Duncan’s old firm, took over the building agreement on behalf of creditors, including Edmund Walker. Walker subsequently sold his interest, but the family connection with the firm was established.
Dr Walker inherited his father’s estate in 1851 and also became a client of Roy Blunt and Johnstone. He decided to increase his fortune by joining in the development of the Ladbroke land. His purpose was to raise money to establish a bishopric of Cornwall.
His first step was to buy 25 acres of land north of Lansdowne Crescent in 1852 from C H Blake. Blake was ultimately the most successful of the Notting Hill developers. But he had paid too much for his land in 1850. The appearance of the wealthy Walker was a god-send: he offloaded the land to him at the same price. Roy acted as Walker’s solicitor . Over the next three years Walker bought more land, in other parts of Kensington and Paddington as well, but he did not choose well. While Roy and Blake were buying land in the best parts of the estate at prudent prices, Walker was paying more for remote parts.
But in the early 1850s there seemed to be a boom in property. Dr Walker lent extensively to builders. But the loans were granted on the security of the building leases he was granting them. In other words, he was gambling on the value of his own land. He also lent money to builders working on other land.
It got to a point where he was lending money to builders, while failing to meet his own obligations to pay for the land he was buying. Walker had not yet paid Blake the full purchase price for his 1852 purchase. When David Allan Ramsay, the builder who owed him most money, went bankrupt in the mid-1850s Walker’s imprudent business empire collapsed and in 1855 Walker handed over the management of his estate to trustees.
Dr Walker died in 1869, aged 59, in Hampstead. He had sold most of his land in Kensington and his financial affairs had improved.