Kevin Walton

Eric William Kevin Walton (15 May 1918 – 13 April 2009) was an engineer officer in the Royal Navy during World War II and, in 1946, was a winner of the Albert Medal, which in 1971 was superseded by the George Cross.

Early life Walton was born in Kobe in Japan on 15 May 1918. He was the son of William Heward Murray Walton, a clergyman and missionary, and his wife Myra (née Hebbert), whose family had served for four generations in the Indian Civil Service. His godfather was Howard Somervell, a member of the 1922 and 1924 Everest expeditions. Later, encouraged by Somervell, Walton developed an interest in climbing. He spent his early years living in Japan with his parents before coming back to Britain to spend four years being brought up by a great aunt and uncle while his parents returned to their missionary work in Japan. Like his father, Walton was educated at Monkton Combe School and Imperial College London, where he trained as a Civil Engineer.

With Dr Richard Butson, who also went on to win the Albert Medal for heroism, Walton climbed several previously unconquered Antarctic peaks, some of which rise to heights of almost 13,000 feet. Walton also received its Clasp (Antarctic 1946–7) and Queen's Commendation for another crevasse rescue on South Georgia in 1952.

When the Royal Warrant of 1971 entitled him to the use of the post-nominal letters 'GC', he chose to continue to wear his original Albert Medal with his other medals and awards.

Later life Walton had various occupations on leaving the Royal Navy, including British Secretary of the International Antarctic Expedition, when he kept huskies in the gardens of the Royal Geographical Society in London; mechanic for Aston Martin in the Le Mans 24-hour race, and the first instructor for the Outward Bound Mountain School in the Lake District. For six months Walton was one of the crew of a yacht which landed agents in Albania. This career ended on the discovery that details of the operation were being leaked from MI6 by the double-agent Kim Philby. In the 1980s Walton pioneered the "Opening Windows on Engineering" scheme, where professional engineers visited UK schools to inform the pupils about engineering and to get them interested in it as a future career. Initially operated by the Institution of Civil Engineers, of whose Council Walton was a member at the time, the scheme was later extended as the "Neighbourhood Engineers" project, its administration being transferred to the Engineering Council. Today, it is the "Engineering Ambassadors" programme, run by the Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics Network.

In 1948 Kevin Walton married Ruth Yule, with whom he had one son and three daughters. His son Jonathan Walton is also engaged in Antarctic research, and they are believed to be the only father and son to hold the Polar Medal.

Kevin Walton is commemorated by Mount Walton in Graham Land, part of the British Antarctic Territory.

Publications Two years in the Antarctic by E.W. Kevin Walton Published by Lutterworth, London (1955) Making things Work: Great Achievements in Engineering by] Michael Low, Frank McKim and Kevin Walton, with a foreword by H.R.H. the Duke of Edinburgh Published by Cassell (1977) A Portrait of Antarctica by Kevin and Jonathan Walton Published by Philip's (1983) Of Dogs and Men: Fifty Years in the Antarctic by Kevin Walton and Rick Atkinson Published by Images (GB) (1996)