He was born in Dundee, Scotland, later moving to St Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, where he began his career as a writer.
David Walker was born near Dundee, Scotland and received his early education in Shrewsbury, later enrolling at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst.
He served with the foreign battalion in India and Sudan (1932–38) and in Canada (1938–39) as aide-de-camp to Governor-General Lord Tweedsmuir, the novelist John Buchan.
In 1946 he travelled to India, where he served for a short time as comptroller of the household for Viceroy Lord Wavell (1946–47).
A prolific author, Walker enjoyed a long and successful career, publishing approximately 100 short stories and 20 books.
His novels The Pillar, about a prisoner of war camp, and Digby, a Scottish highlands story, won the Governor General's award for fiction for 1952 and 1953, respectively.