Background
He was born in Everett, Massachusetts (formerly known as South Malden) on 24 December 1867 to Isaac N. Carleton and Laura Tenney Carleton.
He was born in Everett, Massachusetts (formerly known as South Malden) on 24 December 1867 to Isaac N. Carleton and Laura Tenney Carleton.
He attended public schools in New Britain, Connecticut. He later attended Carleton School for Boys in Bradford, Massachusetts (now part of Haverhill) in 1884. He attended Dartmouth College.
He graduated in 1891 with an Bachelor of Arts
He was one of the three founding directors of Nippon Electric Corporation Corporation, the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital. He joined the First Church in Bradford in 1885. He was also in the Kappa Kappa Kappa fraternity and Sphinx Society.
He had two sisters, Clara and Grace.
Grace married Forrest F. Dryden, son of New Jersey Senator John F. Dryden. Walter married Enriqueta Navarro Doctorate"Hamel 31 December 1895 at Saint John"s church, Brooklyn.
They resided in New York City on Thomas street. Their only son, Charles Dubois Carleton was born 7 January 1899 in Yokohama Japan, where Walter and Enriqueta had traveled on business with Western Electric.
He briefly taught at the Carleton School for Boys after he graduated from Dartmouth.
He then worked for three months at District of Columbia Heath and Company, a publisher in Boston. He started working for Western Electric in 1892. He was the assistant of Harry B. Thayer, then the International department manager for Western Electric.
Thayer had been to Tokyo in 1896 and knew that the telephone business in Japan was promising.
Carleton met with Kunihiko Iwadare, the Western Electric agent in Japan. He also met with Saitaro Oi, chief engineer of the Ministry of Communications and others
Walter joined Iwadare and Takeshiro Maeda as one of the three founding directors of Nippon Electric Corporation Corporation in 1899. He represented Western Electric by voting their share of Nippon Electric Corporation stock.
Western Electric held 54% of Nippon Electric Corporation at the time.
He was later presented with a wakizashi as a gift in recognition for his work at Nippon Electric Corporation. Though his time with Nippon Electric Corporation was limited to the years of 1897 to 1900, Carletons influence would stay with Nippon Electric Corporation for years after his departure. He sailed for home 2 June 1900 after completing his duties with Nippon Electric Corporation. He arrived in Bradford Massachusetts, 30 June 1900. He was to take charge of the Chicago branch of Western Electric.
He had developed appendicitis, and subsequently died during a difficult operation at Hale hospital on 6 July 1900 in Haverhill, Massachusetts.
