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Walter successive disappointments and misfortunes, Walter seems at one time to have despaired of 'The Times.' His business must otherwise have prospered, however; for in 1795 he 'gave up the management of the business and retired into the country'—to the house at Teddington, where he died on 16 Nov. 1812—'intending to enjoy the few years I have to live in otium cum dignitate' (ib.) He married early, on 31 May 1759, and the maiden name of his wife appears to have been Frances Landon or Lenden. She died at Printing House Square on 30 Jan. 1798. At the time of his bankruptcy in 1782 he was the father of six children.

The eldest son, William, who involved his father in the libel suit with Lord Cowper, was born in 1763. His management of the 'Times' was not a success, and appears to have been brought to an end before the close of the century. His place was taken by his younger brother, (1776-1847) [q. v.], who in 1797 or 1798 was associated in the management, and in 1803 took sole charge of the business. The elder Walter remained sole proprietor till his death, but by deeds executed in his lifetime, and supplemented by the provisions of his will, he divided the profits of 'The Times' into a number of shares, which he distributed among members of his family and other persons connected with the paper. These shares, being inalienable by sale, are still held by the descendants and legal representatives of the original beneficiaries. The fee simple of the premises and the capital involved in the undertaking, together with the sole management of the paper, were retained by the founder of 'The Times' in his own control, and passed successively to his son and grandson.



WALTER, JOHN (1776–1847), chief proprietor of 'The Times' newspaper, second son of (1739-1812) [q. v.], was born probably at Battersea on 23 Feb. 1776. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' school from 1787, and proceeded thence to Trinity College, Oxford, where he entered in 1795, being destined for holy orders. But in 1797 or 1798 his father recalled him from Oxford and associated him with himself in the management of 'The Times.' He soon infused a new spirit into the management of the paper, though for some years it still had to sustain an arduous struggle with adversity and official disfavour. In 1803 the younger Walter became sole manager of the paper, and acted for some years as its editor as well. 'From that date it is,' as he wrote in his own person in 'The Times' of 11 Feb. 1810, 'that he undertakes to justify the independent spirit with which it has been conducted. On his commencing the business he gave his conscientious and disinterested support to the existing administration, that of Lord Sidmouth. The paper continued that support of the men in power, but without suffering them to repay its partiality by contributions calculated to produce any reduction whatsoever in the expense of managing the concern; because by such admission the editor was conscious he should have sacrificed the right of condemning any act which he might esteem detrimental to the public welfare.' Such a declaration of independence was little to the taste of governments in those days, and little in accord with the ordinary practice of newspapers. It cost the Walters dear, but it made the fortune of 'The Times.' When the government of Addington was succeeded by the last administration of Pitt,'The Times' went into opposition so far as concerned the 'Catamaran expedition,' as it was called, and the official malpractices of Lord Melville. 'The editor's father held at that time, and had held for eighteen years before, the situation of printer to the customs. The editor knew the disposition of the man whose conduct he found himself obliged to condemn, yet he never refrained a moment on that account from speaking of the "Catamaran expedition" as it merited, or from bestowing on the practices disclosed in the tenth report the terms of reprobation with which they were greeted by the general sense of the country. The result was as he had apprehended. Without the allegation of a single complaint, his family was deprived of the business, which had been so long discharged by it, of printing for the customs. &hellip; The government advertisements were at the same time withdrawn. 'After the death of Pitt and the return of Sidmouth and some of his former colleagues to the ministry, overtures were made to Walter for the restoration of his father's privilege of printing for the customs. But he declined to sign a memorial for presentation to the treasury, believing, for certain reasons, that this bare reparation of an injury was likely to be considered as a favour entitling those who granted it to a certain degree of influence in the politics of the journal;' and he wrote 'to those from whom the 