John Walker

John Walker and his older brother Michael represented Ireland in the road race at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, finishing 81st and 67th respectively. The following month, John won the Irish Road Club 100-mile race at Dublin.

In 1913, the siblings joined the newly formed Irish Volunteers (later the Irish Republican Army – IRA), whose aim was to preserve the rights and liberties of the people of Ireland. They were cycle couriers for the Irish Volunteers during the troubles and took part in the famous Dublin Easter Rising. When it ended on 29 April 1916, the two men were arrested and imprisoned in Stafford jail, but released after three months. They were fortunate as several of their associates were executed. In the 1920s, John Walker, a former shopkeeper, spent many years in mental institutions around the Dublin area.