| Administrative History | Eric Walton was born in 1920 in Hepthorne Lane, Clay Cross, into a coal mining family. He left school at 14. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, but was classed as a non-combatant because of injuries sustained in civilian life. His skill in shorthand enabled him to become a confidential clerk, stenographer and notetaker. In 1942, Eric married Nora Kimmons at Ault Hucknall church. In 1943 he was posted to India, and shortly after arrival he joined the Headquarters Secretariat of Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander in South East Asia. Subsequently he worked in the private office of the Chief of General Staff, General Browning. It was the General who asked Mr. Walton to make a 'verbatim report of proceedings' of the negotiations in Ragoon in August 1945 for a ceasefire with Japanese forces.
After the ceasefire, administration was handed over to the civil power in the person of Lord Killearn, British Special Commissioner in South East Asia. Eric Walton continued to serve on the Commissioner's personal staff and accompanied him to the celebrations for the granting of independence to the Philippines in July 1946. Mr. Walton was demobbed in August 1946 and returned to the United Kingdom. He subsequently worked for the National Coal Board. |
| Custodial History | These papers and photographs were donated to Derbyshire Record Office in June 2003, January 2004 and August 2017. |