Textile manufacturer, designer, artist and collector, born in Mirfield, Yorkshire, son of John Walker, mill owner and fifth generation of textile manufacturers. After Epsom College Alec learned the family business, in 1912 taking over a run-down mill, reorganised to make his acclaimed Vigil Silk. Having advertised for a poster designer, Walker in 1912 met Kathleen (Kay) Earle (1893–1966), trained by Stanhope Forbes, in Newlyn; Alec immediately travelled there with her, liked it and was encouraged to sketch by artists Harold Harvey and Ernest Procter; Kay became his first wife in 1918. In 1920, they set up Cryséde Ltd, producing silk dresses using modern designs which owed much to the artist-members of the Vorticists and Group X, whose works Walker collected.
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Tom Heron, father of the artist Patrick Heron and eventual founder of Cresta Silks, worked for a time with Cryséde. After in 1929 the break-up of his first marriage, a nervous breakdown, dismissal from Cryséde’s board and then his return, Walker broke with the firm at the end 1933, married Vera Hardcastle Birchenough, moved to Grafton Manor, Yorkshire, farmed and bred horses. Although Cryséde went into liquidation during World War II, eventually some of Walker’s designs were reprinted by Cresta, which had taken over the remaining assets and shops. Walker returned to Cornwall in 1940, where his second marriage eventually disintegrated. He settled in Falmouth, continuing to paint, travel, collect pictures and plan a gallery. His mixed exhibitions included the RA, with a solo show at the Wertheim Gallery in 1932. The Royal Cornwall Museum surveyed his life in 1993.
Text source: 'Artists in Britain Since 1945' by David Buckman (Art Dictionaries Ltd, part of Sansom & Company)
