JOHN, late manager and principal proprietor of the Times newspaper, was born in 1784. His father, John Walter, was for eighteen years printer to the customs, and was likewise chief proprietor of the Times, the first number of which he published on the 1st of January 1788. His son, the late John Walter, became joint-proprietor and sole manager of that greatest of English newspapers in 1803. Since that date, the improvements undergone by that newspaper have been enormous. The munificent sums paid to the editor and writers, the very efficient staff of reporters, the prodigious amount and general accuracy of the information gleaned almost from every corner of the world, the singular swiftness with which intelligence is conveyed to its pages, the enormous steam-power employed in the printing of it—turning out at present upwards of 50,000 daily—and the general excellence of the entire arrangements, all render this newspaper the foremost in the world, and reflect the highest credit upon those who have been engaged in the management of it. The directorial power of John Walter was characterized, as it always is, much more by tact than by any brilliant quality of mind. From the 29th of November 1814, when steam was first introduced by him to the printing of the Times, down to the year of his death, the amount of risk, anxiety, and labour that he expended on it was such as few men could have undergone.

John Walter married in 1818, and having purchased an estate in Berkshire, he represented that county in parliament from December 1832 till 1837, when he retired in consequence of a difference of opinion with his constituents regarding the poor-laws. In 1840 he was an unsuccessful Waltham candidate for the representation of Southwark, but in 1841, he was returned for the borough of Nottingham. He died at his residence in Printing House Square, Blackfriars, London, on the 28th of July 1847. His son, the present John Walter, who has been M.P. for Nottingham since 1847, continues to conduct the Times on his father's principles with great success.