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1593-1683
Born on August 9th 1593 at St Mary, near Stafford, to Jervis Walton, of a yeoman family, little is known of Walton's childhood or education. Apprenticed at an early age to an ironmonger in London, he eventually went into trade on his own account with a shop in Fleet Street and in 1618 became a Freeman of the Ironmongers' Company. Through his friendship with the vicar of this parish, then John Donne, Walton became acquainted with Michael Drayton, Ben Jonson, Henry Wotton and other authors, and seems to have been accepted as a member of the current literary group. His first known published work was his memoir of Wotton, which was prefixed to a posthumous edition of his poems in 1640.
After the Royalist defeat at Marston Moor in 1644, Walton decided to leave London for a while, and bought a holding in Staffordshire, which remained his occasional home, although he returned to London the next year.
Having married in 1626, Walton had lost his wife, Rachel Floyd, and all seven of their children by 1640: he married again in 1646, and a son and daughter of this second marriage reached adulthood. After the death of his second wife, he retired, making his home for some years with George Morley, the Bishop of Winchester, but also spending long periods with his friend Charles Cotton fishing on the Dove River, on the boundary between Staffordshire and Derbyshire. He died at the age of 90 in Winchester, leaving provision in his will for the benefit of the poor of Stafford.
The work for which Walton is best known, The compleat angler, or the contemplative man's recreation first appeared in 1653, but he continued to revise and add to it until 1676. The book has been criticized on technicalities by knowledgeable fishermen, but while Walton fished as a leisure pursuit, he cheerfully acknowledged that he knew nothing about fly-fishing. Fishing was a recreation, as was writing: he did both for his own pleasure. The book - discursive, rambling and whimsical - has over the years endeared itself to many who have never fished at all.
The life of Sir Henry Wotton, with Reliquiae
Wottonianae (1651)
The compleat angler: or the contemplative man’s
recreation (1653)
The life of John Donne (1658)
The life of Mr Rich. Hooker (1665)
The life of Mr George Herbert (1670)
The life of Dr Sanderson (1678)
Page created 18 March 2002 and last updated
28 October 2002
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