Background
He was born in 1738/9, probably in London, and from the death of his father, Richard Walter, until 1781 was engaged in a prosperous business as a coal merchant.
He was born in 1738/9, probably in London, and from the death of his father, Richard Walter, until 1781 was engaged in a prosperous business as a coal merchant.
He was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, Northwood.
In 1784 he acquired an old printing office in Blackfriars, which formed the nucleus of the Printing-house Square of a later date, and established there his 44 Logographic Office. "
At first he only undertook the printing of books, but on 16t January 1785 he started a small newspaper called The Daily Universal Register, which on reaching its 940th number on 16t January 1788 was renamed The Times. The printing business developed and prospered, but the newspaper at first had a somewhat chequered career.
In 1789 Mr Walter was tried for a libel in it on the duke of York, and was sentenced to a fine of £50, a year's imprisonment in Newgate, to stand in the pillory for an hour arid to give surety for good behaviour for seven years; and for further libels the fine was increased by £100, and the imprisonment by a second year.
On 9th March 1791, however, he was liberated and pardoned. In 1799 he was again convicted for a technical libel, this time on Lord Cowper. He had then givenup the management of the business to his eldest son, William, and had (1795) retired to Teddington, where he died, 16th November 1812.
William Walter very soon gave up the duties he undertook in 1795, and in 1803 transferred the sole management of the business to his younger brother, John.
John Walter (1776 - 1847), who really established the great newspaper of which his father had sown the seed, was born on the 23rd of February 1776, and was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and Trinity College, Oxford. About 1798 he was associated with his elder brother in the management of his father's business, and in 1803 became not only sole manager but also editor of The Times.
In 1799 he was again convicted for a technical libel, this time on Lord Cowper. He had then given up the management of the business to his eldest son, William, and had (1795) retired to Teddington, where he lived till his death.
William Walter very soon gave up the duties he undertook in 1795, and in 1803 transferred the sole management of the business to his younger brother, John.
He played a leading part in establishing a Coal Exchange in London; but shortly after 1781, when he began to occupy himself solely as an underwriter and became a member of Lloyd's. In 1782 he bought from one Henry Johnson a patent for a new method of printing from "logotypes " (i. e. founts of words or portions of words, instead of letters), and made some improvements in it.
In John Walter's way of meeting them we find a principle upon which he consistently acted through life, and "which goes far to explain his success. He never allowed himself to be diverted from the pursuit of a great though distant object by any petty calculation of immediate gain or loss. He had set himself to build up a journal which all the world should recognize as independent of government favour, and which governments themselves should be compelled to respect and reckon with.
From his father he inherited a fearless and perhaps slightly aggressive independence, to which he joined a steady and tireless energy and a concentration of purpose which are less conspicuous in his father's career.
In 1759 he had married Frances Landen (died 1798), by whom he had six children. John Walter (3) (1818 - 1894), his eldest son, was born at Printing-house Square in 1818, and was educated at Eton and Exeter College, Oxford, being called to the bar in 1847.
