Little is known about Edward Walker. He was a locksmith working in London in the mid- to late-1800s, and was married to Caroline Walker, with whom he had at least one child, murder victim Mary Ann Nichols, who was born in August of 1845. She married William Nichols in 1864, but the marriage had broken up by 1881. Walker claimed that the marriage had dissolved due to Nichols' infidelity with a midwife, while Nichols himself claimed that it was because Mary Ann was practicing prostitution and was an alcoholic. After the marriage dissolved, Walker took in at least one of the Nichols' children, Edward John Nichols, who was estranged from his father. Mary Ann herself also lived with Walker for at least a year, but left after they quarreled   
 
When his daughter was murdered in August of 1888 by notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper, Walker went to the morgue to identify her body.