The
New Walk, Leicester, was so named because it became a pedestrian
precinct in the 18th Century. Henry Walter Bates' father, Henry Bates
(known locally as 'Honest Harry Bates'), was a well-to-do dyer of
hosiery. Henry Walter was born very near the New Walk, on 8th February
1825, at 16 Waterloo St. His parents had
moved by 1841 to a house built by Henry Bates on Queen St., where his
father provided him with a study-bedroom. In 1851 they moved to 21
King St. I don't know what the Bates family's houses looked like, but
given that Henry Walter had a study-bedroom of his own, it must have
been at least as big as this one on the New Walk.
© James Mallet 2002
© James Mallet 2002