Walter Leonard Cole (15 May 1866 – 26 April 1943) was an Irish merchant and politician in the early twentieth century.

[1] An active republican, he was a founding director of the Sinn Féin Printing & Publishing Company.

The notes of Seamus Reader, an Irish Volunteer from Glasgow, record a meeting on 2 January 1916 at Cole's house: Shortly after 5pm on the 2nd, January 1916, I went to Cole's house, Mountjoy Square, Dublin, where, while waiting in the kitchen for tea, I jotted my coded notes for my report to Scotland.

Cole is also documented as having hosted provisional Dáil meetings at his home,[5][6] the assembly having been driven underground in September 1919.

He and Seán Milroy stood alongside Arthur Griffith with one other opponent,[8] Patrick Baxter of the Farmers' Party and three seats available.