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'John Walter' (February 23, 1776 - July 28, 1847), son of John Walter, the founder of ''The Times'', really established the great newspaper of which his father had sown the seed.
He 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''. When he took it over, it was an undistinguished journal whose opinions counted for little and whose intelligence lagged far behind official reports with no independent means of fact-checking. He left it in 1847 a great organ of public opinion, deferred to and even feared throughout Europe, consulted and courted by cabinet ministers at home, with the best sources of independent information in every European capital.
In the same year he signalized the new spirit of the direction by his opposition to Pitt, which cost him government advertisements and the loss of his appointment as printer to the Customs, besides exposing him to the not too scrupulous hostility of officials. When the King of Portugal sent him, via the Portuguese ambassador, a service of gold plate, Mr Walter promptly returned it.
It was the same jealous regard for the complete independence of ''The Times'' that led him to insist upon the strict anonymity of the able men whom he hired. From about 1810, he delegated to others editorial supervision, first to Sir John Stoddart, then to Thomas Barnes, and in 1841 to JT Delane, though never the ultimate direction of policy.
In 1830, Mr Walter purchased an estate called Bearwood at Sindlesham in Berkshire where he built a house, afterwards rebuilt by his son to form the present mansion. Two years later, he was elected to Parliament for that county, and retained his seat till 1837. In 1841 he was returned to Parliament for Nottingham, but was unseated next year on petition. He was twice married, and by his second wife, Mary Smythe, had a family. His eldest son, John, also worked in the newspaper. He died in London on the 28th of July 1847.
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