AMY CATHERINE WALTON
AMY CATHERINE WALTON (née Deck) (1849-1939)
(also see Octavius Walton for more about their time in Leigh and their family)
Amy Catherine Deck was the wife Octavius Walton. Octavius was Vicar of Leigh from 1906 until 1918 and he and Amy lived at the Vicarage (now Old Vicarage).
Amy was born on 7 August 1849, baptized on 2 September 1849 at St Stephen’s in the parish of Holy Trinity, Kingston-upon-Hull[1]. The baptism was performed by her father – John Deck, who was vicar of St Stephen’s Church. He, and her mother, Mary Ann Sanderson Gibson, had married at Hull in 1845. At the time of her birth they were living at Belgrave Terrace in Hull. Mary Ann was a hymnist.
Octavius Walton was ordained a deacon at York and became a priest in 1873. Amy met him when he worked as a curate to her father and they married in 1875. Amy was 25 and Octavius was 30 years old at the time. Following the marriage, they went to Jerusalem where Octavius served as the Anglican Vicar at Christ Church, Mount Sion. It was here that their first child, Lucy Olive[2] was born. After returning from the Holy Land they went to live at Cally, Kirkcudbrightshire in Scotland where three further children were born – Stanley Howard, Melville and Daisy. In 1883 they left Cally as Octavius had been appointed Vicar of St Thomas’s in York where he would practise until 1893. During this period, he and Amy had a further three children, Ivy, Richmond and Myrtle. In 1893 they moved to Wolverhampton where Octavius became Vicar of St Jude’s and in 1906 on to Leigh, when Octavius took up the role of Vicar at St Mary’s.
Whilst Octavius carried out his duties as vicar, Amy fulfilled her role as a mother and as a Vicar’s wife. She became involved in village life, running the Mothers’ Meeting at Leigh and the Sunday School which took place at 10am in the School Room. Her two grand-daughters – Stella and Diane (children of her son, Melville) – would sit in chairs at the front during Sunday School facing the village school children.
After retirement in 1918, Amy and Octavius went to live at Shamley Green in Surrey, but later decided to return to Leigh, which they did in 1927. Some of their family were still there and they went to live at Great Barnetts with their daughter, Daisy. Later their daughter Ivy joined them there when she returned to Leigh after the death of her husband. Octavius Walton died in 1933 and Amy in 1939 and both are buried at St Mary’s. There is a plaque in the Church for Octavius.
But perhaps there should also be a plaque for Amy in Leigh? For Amy was not only a Vicar’s wife and a mother, she was also a well-known writer of books for young children and teenagers, mainly but not exclusively fiction. They were published under her husband’s name, ‘Mrs O F Walton’, although she had started writing before her marriage. She was quite prolific, writing 34 books between 1872 and 1919, despite her other commitments[3]. During her time at Leigh, however, she only had four books published, two of those being in 1906, so perhaps written before arriving in Leigh. A further two were published in 1907. Her last book was published in 1919. Therefore, it appears that during her time at Leigh, she wrote very little, but this cannot be blamed purely on her role as a Vicar’s wife – she had been this since 1875.
Amy’s first book was “My mates and I”, written in 1870 and published in 1873, but her first ‘published’ work was “My Little Corner” in 1872. In 1874, one of her most famous books, “Christie’s Old Organ” appeared; this has been regularly reprinted up to the present day and tells the story of orphaned Christie and his friend, an aged organ grinder named Treffy. This, too, was written before her marriage and initially published under her father’s name, although later under her own name. It was also introduced into Japan in 1882 and published there in 1885 in a translation by Tajima Kashi, as one of the earliest books in Japan on the history of Christian and of children’s literature. It was translated again in 1903 and even in 1994[4].
After her marriage in 1875, she began to publish under her husband’s name, as Mrs O F Walton, and she became better known. While in Jerusalem, in 1877, she published “A Peep Behind the Scenes”, the story of a circus family, and of Rosalie, a child who works in a travelling theatre. This was later made into a film. This book ran to 49 editions. “Saved from the Sea” published in 1887 ran to 29 editions [5]. Several of her books were also made into plays.
As well as “Christie’s Old Organ” being translated into Japanese, another book was translated into Welsh and many had very large sales all over the world, particularly in Canada and the USA. In their day, her books – mostly for younger children – were bestsellers and had strong moral/Christian values. They all had relatively sad endings. Her book “The Lost Chick” was for older children. Her books were often given as Sunday School prizes.
Some of her books are still published today – “A Peep Behind the Scenes” and “Christie’s Old Organ” remain well known and are published by the Lutterworth Press, the successor to her original publisher, the Religious Tract Society. She also wrote prayers for children.[6]
From notes made by Lawrence Biddle in our archives he quotes from a book entitled “A Study of 19th Century Evangelical Writing for Children” which refers to Amy Walton’s writings. “Each demonstrates that the way of the Transgressor and that of the religiously indifferent lead alike to punishment and that punishment brings about spiritual improvement. Thus, the boy who follows bad company into the alehouse, falls seriously ill, repents and is converted. The neglectful mother loses her little child, burnt to death while the women are gossiping next door. Another village woman, wearied with household cares, fails to attend church and must watch four of her eleven children die of scarlet fever. No other 19th century novelist could devise a cautionary tale with swifter retribution for sins of omission or commission than could gentle Mrs Walton”.[7]
As mentioned above, Amy was buried at Leigh. The Courier reported, on her funeral, in their edition of July 14 1939[8], that there were no hymns at the service but the choir sang her favourite psalm “The Lord’s my Shepherd” At her own request there were no flowers except a few wreathes from family and intimates. Her son, Melville, was unable to attend owing to his own illness, but many family mourners were there: Mr and Mrs Richmond Walton, Miss D Walton and Mrs Cecil (her daughter), Sir Cusack and Lady Walton (her nephew and niece) and Miss Owen.
The Courier article goes on to say:
“The Star Man’s Diary” in the “Evening Star” of Friday contained the following tribute to Mrs Walton: “many people like myself must have felt a shock of surprise when they read that Mrs O Walton who wrote those one-time nursery classics, died this week. It is interesting to find that those volumes which made so many children wipe their eyes in Victorian days are still read. “A Peep Behind the Scenes” was published in 1877 and sold over two and a half million copies and now a new edition has just been published and “Christie’s Old Organ” published in 1874, has sold over a million copies.
Writing in “The Times” on Friday a friend said: “The passing of Mrs Walton, the widow of a former vicar of Leigh, in Kent, will recall to many who are already advanced in years memories of her stories for children which were in the nature of nursery classics in their childhood’s days “A Peep Behind the Scenes “ and “Christie’s Old Organ” will perhaps be among the best remembered, but for many years in her younger days her pen was seldom idle, and “Olive’s” story, “Taken or Left” and “Winter’s Folly” were further examples of her gentle understanding of the child mind. One of her last books was a “Life of Queen Victoria “ for children. She has passed away on the eve of her ninetieth birthday, but to the last she retained a freshness of outlook and an intellectual vivacity which the passage of years had in no way dimmed and the gracious kindliness which made converse with her so delightful will be a treasured memory for all who were privileged to enjoy her friendship”.
In 2013, an edition of her works entitled “The Works of Mrs O F Walton” was published as a Kindle edition; and in 2016 “The Collected Works of Amy Catherine Walton” Eight books with illustrations.[9]
Joyce Field (Nov 2020)
BIBLIO:
Leigh Historical Society website and archive
Wikipedia
Findmypast website
www.goodreads.com
[1] Yorkshire baptisms entry: St Stephens’ , Kingston upon Hull, via Findmypast website
[2] Amy and Octavius had 7 children: Lucy Olive (b. 1876/d.1953), Stanley Howard (b. 1878 d. 1892), Melville (b.1880) and Daisy (b.1883), : Ivy (b.1885), Richmond (b.1888) and Myrtle (b.1891 d. 1899 at Wolverhampton).
[3] A list of her books can be found on Wikipedia as well as www.goodreads.com
[4] See www.goodreads.com
[5] See www.goodreads.com
[6] Further details of her books can be found on the internet.
[7] See Leigh Historical Society Archives “Vicars”
[8] See Kent Courier 14 July 1939, available via FIndmypast website (a copy is in the Leigh Historical Society archives under ‘Vicars’: Walton
[9] Book available via www.goodreads.com