Real estate and financial broker, land developer, builder.
Born at Barbados, British West Indies on 11 August 1878, son of Dr. George O’Donnell Walton and Sarah Louisa Gall, he was educated at Harrison College Institute in the Barbados. He worked as a plantation overseer in British West Indies before coming to Manitoba in 1898. He founded a real estate and financial brokerage firm in 1903, later going into building construction as President of the Rookery Building Syndicate Company. He moved to British Columbia in 1911.
On 4 November 1906, he married Helen Josephine Lyon (1878-1961, sister of Silas Herbert Redmond Lyon) at Winnipeg and they had five children: Geoffrey Hitzler Walton (1907-1963), Grace Helen Louise Walton (1909-1999), Terrence O'Donnell Walton (1911-1991), Mary Josephine Walton (1914-2010), and Amy Walton (1916-2015). In 1911, the family lived at 300 Balfour Street, Winnipeg. He was a member of the Canadian Club, West India Club (Vice-President), AF & AM, and Anglican church. His recreations included cricket and tennis.
He died at Coquitlam, British Columbia on 30 August 1951.
Some of his construction works in Manitoba included:
Building
Location
Year
Status
251 Broadway, Winnipeg
1906
Demolished (1982)
326 Broadway, Winnipeg
1908
281-285 Smith Street, Winnipeg
1909
Demolished (2020)
147 West Gate, Winnipeg
1910
393 Wellington Crescent, Winnipeg
1910-1911
Marriage registration, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Who’s Who in Western Canada: A Biographical Dictionary of Notable Living Men and Women of Western Canada, Volume 1, edited by C. W. Parker, Vancouver: Canadian Press Association, 1911.
Death registration, British Columbia Vital Statistics.
Obituary [Herbert Redmond Lyon], Winnipeg Free Press, 24 January 1969, page 31.
Geoffrey Hitzler Walton, FindAGrave.
We thank Jordan Makichuk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 5 March 2024
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