John Walter III
John Walter III (born October 8, 1818 , London - † November 3, 1894 Wokingham , Berkshire ) was the owner and publisher of the Times .
biography
John Walter III attended Eton College and the Exeter College in Oxford and in 1847 as a lawyer admitted. After the death of his father, John Walter (the younger) in 1847, John Walter III became the owner of the London newspaper The Times . Just like his father when he first used a high-speed press in 1819, his son also distinguished himself 47 years later with a revolutionary innovation in newspaper production.
After several attempts, Joseph Calverly and the Times manager , John C. MacDonald, made a major technical breakthrough. On behalf of publisher John Walter III, the two engineers developed and built the world's first rotary printing press for newspaper printing from 1863. This machine, which was patented in 1866 and became known as the Walter press , enabled fast double-sided continuous printing of paper rolls. With the help of this improvement, the Times was able to withstand increased competition against the Daily Telegraph and other papers.
In 1847 he was first elected to Nottingham as a moderate Whig in the House of Commons and was able to defend his parliamentary seat in 1852 and 1857. He represented Berkshire in Parliament in 1859 , lost his seat in 1865, was re-elected in 1868, and then held the seat until 1885.
John Walter III was married twice, in 1842 to Emily Frances Court (* 1824; † 1858) and in 1861 to Flora Macnabb (* 1836; † 1917). His eldest son from his first marriage, John Balston Walter (* 1845), drowned in an accident on the family estate "Bear Wood" in 1870. His second oldest son from his first marriage, Arthur Fraser Walter (* September 12, 1846; † 22. February 1910), owned the Times until 1908 when he sold it to Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe for £ 320,000 . He then acted as chairman of the board and was replaced after his death in this position by his son John Walter IV (* 1873, † 1968). After the death of Lord Northcliffe in 1922, he was only able to raise the purchase amount of £ 1.5 million with the help of John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever, (* 1886 - † 1971), who became a 90 percent partner. Astor remained the main owner of the Times until 1966 .
Web links
- John Walter , entry in the Encyclopædia Britannica 1911
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Walter, John III |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British publisher, owner of The Times |
| DATE OF BIRTH | October 8, 1818 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 3, 1894 |
| Place of death | Wokingham |