Charles Walton (murder victim)
Charles Walton (1870–1945) was found murdered on the evening of 14 February 1945, (St Valentine’s Day), at The Firs farm on the slopes of Meon Hill, Lower Quinton in Warwickshire, England. The case is notable as the foremost police detective of the era, Chief Inspector Robert Fabian, led the investigation into Walton's death. The chief suspect for the murder was the manager of The Firs, Alfred John Potter, for whom Walton was working on the day he died. However, there was insufficient evidence to convict Potter and the case is currently the oldest unsolved murder in the Warwickshire Constabulary records. The case has earned some notoriety in popular culture due to its supposed connection with the local belief in witchcraft.
George Henry Walton
Walton married a colleague, Dorothy (Daphne) Jeram, daughter of a Hampshire doctor on 20 November 1918, and a son was born in 1920. In 1919 Walton attempted to revive his private practice, with the support of various friends and the Scottish portrait-painter William Oliphant Hutchison (1889–1970), who had married his niece, and painted a striking portrait of Walton 10 years before his death. He now worked mainly as a textile designer for Morton Sundour Fabrics of Carlisle, but this work also ceased due to the recession and a falling-off in demand for Art Nouveau designs. In March 1931 the Waltons moved to 70 Seabrook Road in Hythe to cut down on living expenses.