Jacob Walker was the son of William and Margaret Walker of Aycliffe. In 1881 they were living next door to the Royal Telegraph in Aycliffe but by 1891 they were in King Street, Darlington. In 1901 Jacob Walker was still single, age 23 and worked as a bricklayer.

Jacob married a Mary (Dale?) in 1910 and in the 1911 census he was living in Railway Cottages, Haswell, working as a platelayer for the railways.

In the Absent Voters' List of October 1918 Jacob Walker's address is given as Orlands and he was a Private in the Royal Engineers.