Page 416 - Reading Mercury

attack, and when feeling and looking far from well he was out shooting with friends.
Whether he then took a chill, or thereby aggravated the attack, is not known; however
from some cause pneumonia supervened, followed by complications, and
notwithstanding the best of nursing and the most careful medical treatment his
condition became very serious and he fell into a comatose state in which condition he
remained for several days, until he passed peacefully away shortly after nine o’clock
on Tuesday evening at the age of 64.
Though Mr. Walter did not take any very prominent part in county affairs, beyond
those which generally fall to the lot of a country gentleman and an owner of a large
estate, yet the Walter family have for so many years been honourably and prominently
connected with Berkshire that it was only natural that a keen sense of sorrow should
be felt at the tidings of his unexpected death.
Mr. Arthur Fraser Walter was a County Magistrate for Berkshire, also a Deputy
Lieutenant of the County. High Steward of the town of Wokingham and a member of
the Berks County Council. He was also formerly Lieut.-Colonel and Hon. Colonel
st
Commandant of the 1 . Volunteer Battalion Royal berks Regiment in which he served
for several years. He was also a member of the Berkshire Territorial force Association
from its commencement. In his younger days he took very great interest in the
Volunteer Movement, and for many years regularly attended the Annual Camp of its
battalion. The town of Wokingham is indebted to him for the splendid Drill Hall and
Armoury, which he erected there when he commanded the Wokingham Company,
with which his name will ever be associated. He also did all in his power to encourage
a high standard of rifle shooting amongst his men by attending their practices and
shooting with them.
Mr. Arthur Fraser Walter was the second and eldest surviving son of Mr. John
Walter, of Bear Wood, for several years M.P. for Berkshire. He was born at waterloo
th
House, near Wokingham on September 12 1846. He was educated at Eton and at
Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1870 and M.A. in 1875. He took a
first class in Classical Moderations, but was only placed in the Third Class in the
Final Classical School, partly because he had no great inclination for the studies and
subjects which gain distinction in that school and possibly also because he was
devoted to cricket.
Mr. Walter played for Eton against Harrow in 1865. He also got his Blue for cricket
at Oxford and in the 1869 match bowled affectively.
Mr. Walter married in 1872 Henrietta Maria eldest daughter of the Rev. T.A. Anson,
of Langford Rectory, Derbyshire. His widow and four children—two sons and two
daughters—survive him. He is succeeded by his elder son John, who was born in
1873, and married in 1903 Charlotte Hilda, daughter of Colonel C. E. Foster, of
Buckley Hall.
The Walter family have always been closely connected with The Times newspaper,
which was founded by the first John Walter in 1785 as the Daily Universal Register
and renamed The Times at the beginning of 1788. Mr. Arthur Walter on the death of
his father in 1894, became manager and chief proprietor of The Times. About two
years ago a limited company was formed and at the time of his death Mr. Walter was
Chairman of The Times Publishing Company (Limited).
As the second son it was understood that Arthur Walter would adopt a definite
profession. But the idea was abandoned when his elder brother, John Balston Walter,
was drowned in the lake at Bear Wood on Christmas-eve, 1870, while attempting to
rescue one of his brothers and a cousin, who had fallen through the ice By the
untimely death of his brother, young Arthur Walter became, while he was still an

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