I can see how people who knew Walter may uneasy about the personal details. I find tabloid-like interest in details living people only known from a public presence distastful.

However, Walter is gone and if he is to be held up as the end of a thread of traditional song then some domestic and socio-economic details help us bridge the ensuing gap*. He left texts that hang together well without unintelligible bits from miss-hearing. It sounds like he had the ability and opportunity to do any polishing needed to make the stories work.

For whatever reason we appreciate the "our side of the baulk" stories. Does it help us imagine we were there receiving some of the transmission?

* folklorist would probably disagree but it sounds to me as if the gap is fairly well bridged by people who knew and heard him and some of the other later source musicians. I asked earlier - how does a 21st century pub song and tunes session compare with what went on in the 'singing room' at the Mitre Tavern?