Herbert Walker was born the son of the architect George Frederick Walker, in Nottingham, England in 1846. From 1860 to 1866 he worked in the office of his brother, Samuel Dutton Walker (c.1833-1885) in Nottingham. He was then articled to Marriott Ogle Tarbotton (1832-1887), City Engineer of Nottingham, until 1870 when he established his own independent architectural practice in Nottingham.
Walker was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1889. He was also a Fellow of the Surveyors' Institution (FSI) and a Member of the Institute of Civil Engineers (M.Inst.C.E.), and a Member of the Royal Sanitary Institute (M.R.San.Inst.).
His address was given as 1 Bailey Street, Basford, Nottinghamshire in 1881; Newcastle Chambers, Angel Row, Nottingham in 1886 and 1890; Albion Chambers, King Street, Nottingham in 1907 and 1914; and Mansfield Road, Mapperley Park, Nottingham in 1914. He died on 23 November 1937.
Architectural projects by Walker included Schools for Nottingham School Board; numerous breweries, maltings, hotels and public houses in Nottinghamshire; numerous and extensive sewerage and water supply schemes in Nottingham; the Infection Diseases Hospital for Basford Rural District Council in Nottinghamshire; a lace factory for Messrs Jacoby & Co.; buildings for Basford Union Workhouse; chapel, houses and lodges in Basford and Beeston, Nottinghamshire; a water pumping station at Burton Joyce for Nottingham Corporation (1899-1900); water works, offices, workshops, and the Superintendent's residence in Nottingham for the Corporation; a cemetery chapel and porter's lodge in Basford, Nottingham (1874); entrance lodge for Basford Workhouse (1880); the Water Works Building in Nottingham for Nottingham Corporation (1880); house and shop for Reuben Walker in Basford, Nottingham (1882); the Jacoby and Co. Lace Factory in Daybrook, Nottingham (1883-84); the John Robinson Almshouses, Mansfield Road in Sherwood, Nottingham (1889-90); the restoration of a part of Nottingham Castle and its conversion into the Industrial Art Gallery (1889-91); a dissenting (Primitive Methodist) chapel in Sleaford, Lincolnshire (1906-07); and pumping stations at Wandsworth and Lea Bridge for the East London Water Company.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Who’s Who in Architecture 1914. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1914