James Walkey

The Venerable James Rowland Walkey [1] CBE, was an amateur sportsman in the first half of the twentieth century who later became an eminent[2] Anglican Chaplain.[3]

He was born into a military family on 10 April 1880[4] and educated at Plymouth College and Christ's College, Cambridge. During his varsity years he was awarded a Blue for Rugby and, after joining the British Army as a chaplain, was its 100-yard champion in 1906. In that year he married Bijou Frances Paske[5] daughter of the Colonel Commandant of the Notts and Derbyshire Regiment with whom he had one son and six daughters. He was mentioned in despatches during World War I and at its conclusion joined the fledgling Royal Air Force Chaplaincy Service. After serving at Uxbridge (during which time he became its Fencing champion) he held posts[6] in Iraq and the Middle East before becoming an Honorary Chaplain to the King[7] and eventually its Archdeacon[8] (Chaplain-in-Chief).[9] Later he held incumbencies at Wateringbury, Worting,[10] Angmering,[11] Haversham and Moreton. He retired just a year before his death on 8 January 1960.[12]