Walker, Rev. Samuel (1714–1761)

Walker was educated at Exeter Grammar School and Exeter College, Oxford (matriculating in 1732). He received his BA in 1736, was ordained in 1737. In 1746 Walker became curate of Truro, Cornwall. During his first year there he was converted to evangelical views by George Conon, master of Truro Grammar School, and became a model evangelical clergyman. While Walker was a moderate Calvinist, he was friendly toward the Wesley brothers, and became an important conversation partner for both brothers in the mid 1750s, during a time of potential rift between the Methodist societies and the Church of England. See Alumni Oxonienses; DEB, 1152–53; ODNB; and Vickers, Dictionary, 367.