The death of John Walker Jr.

That 4107 number identifies the hotel where they stayed: the Hotel Royal (or Reale) was a very popular accomodation for foreigners and nobles. Anne Lister went to see it as well, out of curiosity, while she was in Milan during her 1827 journey with Maria and Jane Barlow, but she didn’t stay there.

The Hotel Royal was located in Via dei Tre Alberghi, a street in the Bottonuto area not far from the Duomo.

Five days later the Walkers left Milan heading to Genova, as recorded again  by the Gazzetta.

They reached Genova the next day and were recorded as “Walcker Giovanni, English landowner, with his entourage, from Milan" (Walcker Gio[vanni] poss[idente] inglese, e seguito, da Milano) – foreign names were often italianized and sometimes misspelled – and from there they embarked to Livorno, where they drew a bank draft for £60 on October 26, 1829 (as it can be seen on In Search of Ann Walker’s travel map).

After spending some days in Florence, the Walkers left for Naples, where they arrived in December 1829.

In the diary of Miss Caroline Walker - one of Ann’s relatives - there are some details about John’s health that could support such a move. Apparently, just the day before his death John had been seen by five physicians who reassured him that he would recover by and by. Unfortunately events took a different turn and, after being cherished by one of Ann’s letters bearing good news from Halifax, John laid down to rest, but he never woke up. 

This death certainly signified a capital event in Ann Walker’s life, even though it’s unclear how this might have also influenced her then-future relationship with Anne Lister.

The full transcription

According to the honeymoon travel map of In Search of Ann Walker, on December 29, 1829 we have the earliest sign of the Walkers being in Naples: that day John drew a bank draft of £50 from the Falconnet bankers. Apparently they had some issues in finding a suitable accomodation at their arrival in town, but later on they could move to Riviera di Chiaia nr. 276, which was the Hotel Grande Bretagne, next to the town villa today.

John Walker was buried in the cemetery known at the time as the Cimitero degli Inglesi, within the churchyard of Santa Maria della Fede (in the San Lorenzo town area). This burial place was created in 1826 thanks to the then British Consul in Naples, Sir Henry Lushington. It was expanded by the half of the 19th century and was officially dismissed in 1892, when the whole town area went through a deep renovation. From that year on, the members of the British community in the area have been buried in the new British cemetery, in Via Nuova del Campo 25, in the Poggioreale town area. According to information provided by the modern British Cemetery staff, on that occasion most of the remains buried there were reduced and moved into a communal ossuary at the new site, marked by a commemorative headstone in remembrance of those formerly buried at Santa Maria della Fede. It is credible that this also involved John Walker’s remains, although we have found no document supporting this hypothesis.

Based upon the information provided by In Search of Ann Walker, both "Signora Penfold" and "Signora Edwards" were actually Miss: Miss Catherine Penfold was Frances’s sister, and Miss Delia Edwards was John’s cousin. At the time, travelling  with relatives and friends was quite common even during a honeymoon. Anne Lister’s journal – as it happens – gives us a further insight. Anne was then residing in Paris with her aunt Anne from 1829, and she used to receive regular updates from her sister Marian about what was going on in Halifax. Thanks to Anne we know that it should have been John’s sister Ann accompanying him and Frances on their honeymoon, but the young woman had declined such invitation, so his cousin Delia Edwards went with them:

Catherine Penfold joined her sister Frances in Naples only after John’s death, travelling with their brother James (although apparently only for a part of the journey) and with a Mr. Giovanni Baroncelli, a staff member who was also recorded on the passport. The 1831 Walker's papers show two payments related to the previous year: a small amount to James Penfold, and nearly £160 to the Italian chaperon. We have no knowledge of the role played by Mr. Baroncelli - whether he was a staff member or some other family acquaintance - but what we know for certain is that he and Catherine Jane Penfold got married shortly after their return to England on Oct. 1 in the parish of St. James, Westminster, in the county of Middlesex.  

Frances Walker eventually reached home in England in June and sadly she gave birth to a stillborn child on Oct. 10. She married again in Halifax after two years with Courtney Kenny Clarke, but she died only a few years later: Frances Esther Clarke passed away on August 7, 1838 in Penzance, Cornwall and was buried in Madron the following week on August 13th.