Professor Walton was born in Epworth Cottage, Strandside South, Abbeyside in 1903. He was son of a Methodist minister. He was educated at the Academies at Banbridge (Co. Down) and Cookestown (Co. Tyrone) and in the Methodist College (Belfast). He later studied at T.C.D.
In 1927 he went to Trinity College Cambridge. Here he worked with Sir John Cockcroft. They constructed the first of the "Controlled Atom Smashers". Cockcroft and Walton shared the 1951 Nobel Prize in Physics. Walton became Senior Fellow in Dublin's Trinity College in 1960.
In 1989 he was given a Civic Reception in Dungarvan. The Walton Park in Abbeyside was named after Professor Walton. He died on June 25, 1995.