Walker Sons and Company
Walker Sons and Company is an engineering firm established in Kandy in 1854 by a Scottish engineer, John Walker, as "John Walker and Co". It is the seventh oldest operating company in Sri Lanka.

John Walker was born 24 August 1819 in Doune,  Scotland the seventh child of James Walker, a cobbler, and Christina nee Strang. He attended school in Deanston and was apprenticed in the engineering shop of Deanston cotton mill, operated by James Finlay and Company. In 1842 he travelled to Ceylon to work as an engineer for Wilson, Ritchie and Co. Over the next 12 years Walker worked as an engineer for a number of firms in Ceylon before returning to Scotland in 1854. In Scotland Walker met up with William Turner, an engineer whom he had known in Ceylon, who encouraged him to return to Ceylon to work with his engineering business in Kandy. Walker established his own engineering firm, John Walker & Co., at Trincomalee Street in Kandy manufacturing machinery for the colony's rapidly developing coffee industry. This included the invention of a disc pulping machine, patented in 1860, which was exported to other coffee producing countries. In 1862 his brother William joined him as a partner in the company. In 1870 they opened branches in Badulla and Haldummulla, which were followed by branches in Dikoya and Dimbula in 1873. Walker founded a new company, Walker and Greig in 1873 to supply machinery to the new tea plantations after a blight destroyed most of the coffee plantations in the country. The business also diversified into marine engineering, building and construction. In 1880 the company manufactured the first tea rolling machine and developed the Colombo Pressure Dryer, which is still in use in some tea estates today. The same year the company relocated their headquarters from Kandy to Colombo and Walker retired to Scotland but retained his business interests in Ceylon until his death in 1888. Following Walker's death, his son John, came out to Ceylon and took over the company. In 1891 the firm was incorporated as a limited liability company, Walker Sons and Company, and registered on the London Stock Exchange. 
Walker and Sons were occupying a small building at the northern end of Prince Street (now known as Sir Baron Jayathilaka Mawatha), which they demolished and constructed a large elegant three storied building completed in 1911. This polychrome ("blood-and-bandage") brick building housed the company's general offices, retail stores and engineering works.

The company diversified with a construction arm which at the turn of the century were responsible for constructing a number of landmark buildings in Colombo, including: the Galle Face Hotel; Cargills Building; Australia Buildings; Whiteaway, Laidlaw & Co Building; P&O Building; Parliament Building; National Bank of India Building; Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank Building; Times of Ceylon Building; the Grandstand at the Colombo Racecourse; Chartered Bank Building; a number of stately homes in the city and in the 1950s the Ceylinco House Building.

In 1902 the company established a motor division, importing the first cars, twenty Austins into the country. In the same year the company installed Ceylon's first passenger lift in the Galle Face Hotel. In 1911 they installed the country's first air-conditioning system in a 10-room office in Colombo.

During the Second World War the firm repaired and refitted 167 major warships, 322 minor warships and 1,932 merchant vessels, including the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, cruisers HMS Cornwall, HMS Cumberland, HMS Devonshire, HMS Gloucester, HMS Kent, HMS Manchester, HMS Liverpool and cruise liners RMS Queen Elizabeth and RMS Queen Mary.

Walker Sons continued to be controlled by the Walker family until the 1970s, when it was sold to the Tata Group, an Indian conglomerate. In 1977, due to the influx of cheap Japanese cars into the local market, the company closed its motor vehicle department. The company was purchased by Kapila Heavy Equipment for Rs. 11 million in 1990.

In 2006 the company acquired CML Edwards Construction Ltd. and was restructured to form Walkers CML. In 2009, MTD Capital Berhad, a Malaysian investment holding company, acquired the Walkers Group of companies from Kapila Heavy Equipment, rebranding the group as MTD Walkers PLC.
Q203197
Kandy
LOC
Q1014524
Doune
LOC
None
 Scotland
UNK
Q6408486
cobbler
Concept
Q1181179
Deanston
LOC
Q946725
cotton mill
Concept
Q918153
Ceylon
LOC
Q918153
Ceylon
LOC
Q203197
Kandy
LOC
Q390096
Badulla
LOC
Q5641318
Haldummulla
LOC
Q5276565
Dikoya
LOC
Q5277189
Dimbula
LOC
Q35381
Colombo
LOC
Q171240
London Stock Exchange
MEDIA
Q183127
polychrome
Concept
Q4039225
Galle Face Hotel
LOC
None
Cargills Building
UNK
Q4440365
Parliament Building
LOC
Q18750586
Times of Ceylon
MEDIA
Q5148039
Colombo Racecourse
LOC
Q5065775
Ceylinco House
ORG
Q781156
Austins
ORG
Q132911
lift
Concept
Q4039225
Galle Face Hotel
LOC
Q362
Second World War
EVE
Q9568
HMS Eagle
MISC
Q1265295
HMS Cornwall
MISC
Q2549360
HMS Cumberland
MISC
Q2555195
HMS Devonshire
MISC
Q1564757
HMS Gloucester
MISC
Q2606550
HMS Kent
MISC
Q1303953
HMS Manchester
MISC
Q1122802
HMS Liverpool
MISC
Q533218
RMS Queen Elizabeth
MISC
Q752939
RMS Queen Mary
LOC
Q331715
Tata Group
ORG
Q778575
conglomerate
Concept
Q4596
Rs.
MISC
Q96414213
Walker Sons and Company
UNK
Q96414213
Walker Sons and Company
UNK
1854-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1854
DATE
1819-08-24T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
24 August 1819
DATE
1842-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1842
DATE
1854-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1854
DATE
1860-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1860
DATE
1862-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1862
DATE
1870-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1870
DATE
1873-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1873
DATE
1873-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1873
DATE
1880-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1880
DATE
1888-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1888
DATE
1891-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1891
DATE
1911-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1911
DATE
1950-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1950
DATE
1902-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1902
DATE
1911-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1911
DATE
1970-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1970
DATE
1977-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1977
DATE
1990-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
1990
DATE
2006-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2006
DATE
2009-01-01T00:00:00Z^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime
2009
DATE
+12^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
12
NUMBER
+10^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
10
NUMBER
+11^^http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#decimal
11
NUMBER
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conflict
conflict
conflict
conflict
conflict
conflict
instance of