He was the son of John Walter, the founder of The Times, and succeeded his father as the newspaper's second editor.

He left it in 1847 a great organ of public opinion, deferred to throughout Europe, consulted and courted by cabinet ministers at home, and in intimate relations with the best sources of independent information in every European capital.

He added complete business knowledge of details, and untiring energy in the pursuit of excellence in literary quality, in typography, in mechanical appliances, and in the organization for the collection of news.

[2] Walter expressed his opposition to the administration of William Pitt the Younger, which cost him government advertisements and the loss of his appointment as printer to the Customs.

[2] In 1830, Walter purchased an estate called Bearwood at Sindlesham in Berkshire where he built a house, afterwards rebuilt by his son.