Phipps-Walker, Edward

Person

Phipps-Walker, Edward

1914-1985

Edward Phipps-Walker (1914-1985) was born in Hove, Sussex, England and was privately educated attending Winchester House and Highgate School. He apprenticed as a machinist between 1932 and 1935 with Holtzapffel Ltd. in England. Between 1937 and 1939 he was employed by Compagnie Miniere Africaine Milraco in Algeria. In 1939, Phipps-Walker went to the United States for a vacation. While there he married an American woman. At the outbreak of war, he moved to Canada where he joined the ranks of the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve. His American wife refused to come with him to Canada and a divorce followed. After the war, he was employed at the Royal Military College in Kingston and later as "Base and Staff Engineer at HMCS Cataraqui. A second marriage ended in a very acrimonious divorce that took up a great deal of his time and energy in the late 1940's and early 1950's. He worked for the Department of Transport (1952-1957) as a Pilotage Officer on the St Lawrence. Then in 1957 he was appointed Harbour Master for the Port of Kingston. Because this position was a "fee of office" appointment, meaning that he was paid only for services rendered he was also able to act as an agent for shipping lines using the port and for Lloyds of London. In this way he was able to enhance his income somewhat. Unfortunately, for Phipps-Walker, the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway all but destroyed Kingston as a commercial port and he was forced to spend the rest of his working life watching his income from this source gradually diminish.

Edward Phipps-Walker married a third time to Margaret Elizabeth Elliot and they had two daughters Wanina and Patricia. He died in 1985.

Draft

• English