Born at Halifax, Yorkshire, England around 1830, Mary Walker married Francis Ackroyd at Halifax in 1846. A son, Alfred James, was born at Ballarat on 2 October 1854. Francis was then described as a 33 year old gold digger from Halifax, with two other living children. Ackroyd (Ackeroyd) was a miner who was inside the Eureka Stockade when the battle occurred on 3 December 1854. He was one of the pioneers who celebrated the 50^th anniversary of Eureka in 1904. At that time he was living in Shepparton.

Leader 10 December 1904, p. 35; Dorothy Wickham, Women of the Diggings: Ballarat 1854, BHS Publishing, 2009; http://www.eurekapedia.org/Mary_Ackroyd dottigee16, 2013.