still carried on by his executors for the
benefit of his family.

He was for some years a member of the Birmingham Town Council, and was
one of its hardest workers. Much might be said of the energetic manner
in which he opposed all weakness in action, and of the manly vigour
of his advocacy of all schemes for the benefit of the town of his
adoption. It will be especially remembered how hard he worked to
induce the Council to buy Aston Park for the town, when its price was
low, and how he used to chafe at the thought that double the present
area of the park might have been purchased, for less money than
was ultimately paid for the portion now held. In the Council, as
everywhere else, the strange influence he could bring to bear upon
other men, and the power he possessed of infusing a portion of his
own superabundant energy into the minds of others, was continually
manifested; and he will long be remembered in the Council Chamber as
one of the most original thinkers, and one of the shrewdest observers,
that ever sat upon its benches.

But his name will, probably, be longer held in remembrance in
connection with the colossal fetes at Aston Park, in 1856, of which
he was the originator, and to the success of which he devoted himself
with untiring energy and unwearied industry. The idea of the fetes
originated at the "Woodman" on an evening in the spring of 1856. The
room, on this occasion, was nearly full; Walsh occupied the principal
seat. Not far from him was the versatile, erudite, somewhat dogmatic,
but always courteous and polite, John Cornforth. There too, was
Ambrose Biggs, who since, as Mayor, so fully justified the choice
the Corporation made when they elected him to be their head. Nearly
opposite was seen the gentlemanlike figure of poor Joseph Collins,
whose untimely death, a few years later, created an intense feeling of
sorrow in the minds of all who knew him. The worthy host, Jem Onions,
occupied his usual seat. At a short distance was seen the upright
figure and full round face of genial, but somewhat fussy, George Tye,
his countenance beaming with good nature, and his eye bright with the
light of poetic and artistic intelligence; and there also were many
others, whose names I cannot at this moment recall.

The conversation that night was more than usually animated, and
was carried on with much propriety and intelligence. Walsh led a
discussion on the folly of the Corporation in refusing to buy a
portion