John Walter

Who was John Walter?

John Walter was an English newspaper publisher and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1847 and 1885.

Walter was born at Printing-house Square, the eldest son of John Walter, editor of The Times. He was educated at Eton and Exeter College, Oxford, being called to the bar in 1847. On leaving Oxford he took part in the business management of The Times, and on his father's death became sole manager, though he devolved part of the work on Mowbray Morris. He was a man of scholarly tastes and serious religious views, and his conscientious character had a marked influence on the tone of the paper. It was under him that the successive improvements in the printing machinery, begun by his father in 1814, at last reached the stage of the "Walter Press" in 1869, the pioneer of modern newspaper printing-presses.

In 1847 Walter was elected to Parliament for Nottingham as a moderate Liberal, and was re-elected in 1852 and in 1857. In 1859 he was returned for Berkshire, where he lived at Bearwood House in Sindlesham, and though defeated in 1865, was again elected in 1868, and held the seat until he retired in 1885.

Walter was twice married, firstly in 1842 to Emily Frances Court, and secondly in 1861 to Flora Macnabb. His eldest son by the first marriage, John, was accidentally drowned at Bear Wood in 1870; and he was succeeded by Arthur Fraser Walter, his second son by his first marriage. A.F. Walter remained chief proprietor of The Times until 1908, when it was converted into a company. He then became chairman of the board of directors, and on his death was succeeded in this position by his son John.