James Backhouse Walker was born at
Hobart on 14 October 1841, the eldest son of the
Quaker missionary
George Washington Walker. His mother, Sarah Walker , was the daughter of an English emigrant named Robert Mather. Walker was educated at the High School, Hobart, and the Quaker
Bootham School, York. He first entered the workforce as a junior clerk, working first for
Thomas Chapman's importing and exporting firm, and then for his father’s Hobart Savings Bank. He began training as a lawyer in 1872, and was admitted as
barrister,
solicitor and proctor of the
Supreme Court of Tasmania in 1876. He became a senior partner in his eponymous firm, J. B. Walker and Wolfhagen. The
Australian Dictionary of Biography describes Walker as "socially committed" and holding "advanced liberal views". He contributed substantially to the collection of the Tasmanian Public Library, where he was a trustee. He was elected to the council of the Royal Society of
Tasmania in 1888. He also served on the Tasmanian Board of Education, and in 1889 he proposed founding a university, which eventually became the
University of Tasmania. He served on the university's first council in 1890, and was its second vice-chancellor, appointed in 1898. He supported the Hobart Working Men's Club, which sought improved conditions for workers, though in his later years he had a negative view of
Australian Trade Unions. He was a
Quaker, and taught Sunday school at the
Davey Street Congregational Church. Walker never married, and died at his home on 4 November 1899. His estate at his death was worth £1106 (). == History of Tasmania ==