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Walton was born in Oldham in Lancashire and after singing as a choirboy at Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, entered Christ Church, Oxford. He was taught composition by Hugh Allen at first, but from 16 was largely self-taught.

Walton was friends with the literary Sitwell family: Osbert Sitwell , Sacheverell Sitwell and Edith Sitwell. It was setting some of Edith's poems as Façade (1922, for reciter and chamber group) which first brought Walton to the attention of the musical world. He had originally been introduced to the Sitwells by Siegfried Sassoon, who had taken an interest in his progress since their first meeting at Oxford (when Walton was only 17 and Sassoon already an established poet).

His other works include two symphonies (1935 and 1960), concertoOrigin Etymology Concerto (from the latin concertus from certare to strive, also confused with concentus , in its most general sense, is a name for a piece of classical music in which there are two distinct groups of instruments, one larger than the others for violinThe violin is a stringed musical instrument that has four strings tuned a fifth apart. It is the smallest and highest-tuned member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola, cello and double bass. The lowest string (and hen (written for Jascha HeifetzJascha Heifetz ( February 2, 1901 December 10, 1987) was a violinist, one of the most famous of the 20th century. Heifetz was born in Vilna in Lithuania. His father was a violinist, and Jascha began playing the instrument at an early age. He was a child p), violaString instruments Alternate uses: Viola (disambiguation The viola is a stringed musical instrument which serves as the middle voice of the violin family, between the upper lines played by the violin and the lower lines played by the cello and double bass (written for Lionel TertisLionel Tertis ( December 29, 1876 February 22, 1975) was a English violist and one of the first viola players to find international fame. Tertis was born in Hartlepool and initially studied the violin in Leipzig and at the Royal Academy of Music in London but premiered and championed by Paul HindemithPaul Hindemith ( November 16, 1895 December 28, 1963) was a German classical composer, violist, teacher, theorist and conductor. Biography Born in Hanau, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child, but his parents objected to his musical ambitions, and he), and celloString instruments Alternate meaning: Cello web browser A cropped image to show the relative size of a cello to a human The cello (also violoncello or cello is a stringed instrument and part of the violin family. The cello is much larger than a violin, an (for Gregor Piatigorsky ), the oratorio Belshazzar's Feast (1931), and the operas Troilus and Cressida and The Bear (based on the Anton Chekhov play). He also wrote film music, including that for Laurence Olivier's films Henry V and Hamlet.

Walton was knighted in 1951 and received the Order of Merit in 1968. He died in 1983 in Ischia in Italy, where he had made his home.