An alumnus of Trinity College, Dublin, Walls had been (according to Harold Williams) Archdeacon of Achrony and master of a school affiliated with St Patrick’s Cathedral. By the time of the Journal he had become the rector of Castleknock, near Trim. Stella and Rebecca Dingley were frequent visitors to the Walls’ home in Queen Street, Dublin, and the four lived together between 1714 and 1717.