WW1. Silver War Badge. Services Rendered. Officer. Walling

He was born in Plymouth on 5 March 1895, the son of Robert Alfred John Walling, and his wife, Florence Victoria, née Greet. He was educated at Plymouth Grammar School, was a junior reporter on the Western Daily Mercury, 1912-1914. A Captain in the Territorial branch of the Royal Garrison Artillery, he served in France during the World War 1 and was wounded at the Battle of Passchendaele in 1917.

He was editor of the Cunard Daily Bulletin and Magazine in Liverpool in 1919, moved to Calcutta as the sub-editor of The Statesman from 1921–1924 and then moved to Manchester as sub-editor of the Manchester Evening News. In 1926 he was appointed secretary of the Institute of Journalists and editor of its journal. He was resident in Chipstead, Surrey in 1926.