From a collection of photographs belonging to Frederick Powell Walton.

Unlabelled but the figure second from left wearing a York and Lancaster Regiment cap is thought to be Frederick Powell Walton (1897 - 1968) of Sheffield. The first figure on the left is a Scot, identifiable from his cap (King's Own Scottish Borderers); third from left is a member of the Irish Guards, and from the appearance of his cap badge, the fourth figure on the right is possibly a member of the Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiment (Sherwood Foresters).

Frederick Powell Walton was born in Sheffield on 21 Jun 1897, the son (and youngest of four children) of Frederick Walton (1862 - 1945) and Annie Eliza Walton (nee Powell) (1862 - 1958). Frederick Walton senior and Annie Eliza Powell married in Sheffield in 1890. Frederick Powell Walton was baptised at Crookes Church, Sheffield on 5 Sep 1897.

Frederick Powell Walton's father Frederick Walton senior worked as a shoemaker and bootmaker. The 1901 census reveals that the family lived at 50 Crookes, Sheffield. By the time of the 1911 census, the family home is given as 50 and 52 Crookes and Frederick Walton senior's occupation is listed as 'bootmaker and repairer' whilst his wife Annie Walton is listed as a 'restaurant keeper'.

Frederick Powell Walton served with the 4th (Hallamshire) [Reserve] Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment during the First World War as a Lance Corporal. His First World War service record (regimental number 200804) reveals that he was living at 31 Matilda Street, Sheffield, and working as a 'clerk' at the time, when he enlisted at Hyde Park in Sheffield on 30 October 1914, aged 18. He served in France and Belgium from 13 Apr 1915 to 17 Mar 1917 (returning home from 18 Mar to 31 May 1917). He then served a second spell in France from 1 Jun to 29 Nov 1917. He suffered a shrapnel wound to his left hand on 25 Nov 1917 and (on his return to England) was treated at the 5th Northern General Hospital, Leicester. Frederick Powell Walton was discharged from the army in 1919 and settled back in Sheffield.

In 1926 he married Mabel Booker (1902 - 1986) in Sheffield. The couple set up home at 26 Mount View Road in the Norton Lees area of Sheffield. Frederick Powell Walton worked as a 'sanitary inspector'. During the Second World War, the records below indicate that Walton served in the Home Guard in Sheffield (also as a Lance Corporal).

Original at Sheffield City Archives: X787/2/3.