The following hand written account by Richard Walker gives the basic outline of how he arrived at what was to become known as his MkIV carp rod. This priceless artefact was part of the provenance of Walker’s MkIV No 1 (the Clarissa rod) that came with the rod when I purchased it in 1982.
By early 1952 Dick realised that rod making was taking up too much of his time and mentioned this to friend Ken Sutton, who in turn suggested he contact B. James & Son of West Ealing. Through the summer of 1952 Jim Bruce of B. James supplied a couple of MkIV examples for Dick and Pete Thomas to evaluate, and it is believed that the second rod supplied was in use by Pete Thomas on the Redmire visit in mid September when Dick landed the 44-pounder on his own MkIV. Shortly after this an agreement of sorts (no money changed hands) was made between Jim Bruce of B. James & Son and Walker to supply finished rods and at the same time Dick assisted J. B. Walker who supplied the MkIV in kit form.
We know the first or maybe first two batches (much conjecture surrounds how many constitute a ‘batch’, but general opinion suggests around 20 in a batch) of the B. James & Son Richard Walker MkIV carp rod were actually signed by Dick in indian ink before the top coats of varnish were applied. These I call the ‘Signature’ rods which still had the Built to Endure and older style of B. James logos applied. Over the years a number have come to light and commanded high prices.
The rush of orders for the B. James & Son Richard Walker MkIV’s prompted Jim Bruce to dispense with sending further batches for Walker to sign and did it himself (rather poorly) in the Ealing workshop. Again a number of these rods have been found over the years.
It was in late 1952/early 1953 that an all new livery was given to the B. James range of rods, gone was the Built to Endure logo and old style company insignia to be replaced by the iconic transfer decals which lasted until production ceased in 1966. With the MkIV and the later produced MkIV Avon Walker’s signature was also created and applied to the rod in the characteristic diagonal ‘around the rod’ style.
Here is a collection of early MkIV’s starting with Dick Walker’s own rod.
Left to right: Dick Walker’s MkIV No 1 - built in the winter of 1950, B. James & Son Walker ‘Signature’ rod - built in October 1952, Jim Bruce ‘Signature’ rod - built late 1952 the initials CG signifies the rod belonged to Cliff Glenton and finally an all-new production MkIV complete with Ealing address, the word MkIV plus the Richard Walker signature decals - built early 1953.
Hope this is of interest... it’s a fascinating subject.
Reedling.
