 During the winter of 1853 Walsh temporarily took on the duties of deputy professor of jurisprudence and political economy at Queen's College, Belfast, for William Neilson Hancock, and in 1856 he was appointed by government an assistant secretary of the Irish endowed schools commission.Walsh was appointed superintendent of the government schools in Mauritius, and entered on his duties in May 1857.There he quickly increased the number of schools from 20 to 44.