Walter Woods Johnston
| Walter Woods Johnston | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Walter Woods Johnston 10 August 1839 London, England |
| Died | 31 August 1907 (aged 68) Hobson Street, Wellington, New Zealand |
| Cause of death | Pneumonia |
| Education | France |
| Occupation | Merchant and runholder, MP |
| Organization | Levin & Co, Johnston & Co |
| Parent(s) | Henrietta and John Johnston |
| Relatives | brothers Charles and Sydney Johnston |
The Hon. Walter Woods Johnston (10 August 1839 – 31 August 1907) was a prominent merchant in 19th-century Wellington, a Member of Parliament for the Manawatu region of New Zealand and a Minister of the Crown.
Johnston was born in London, the eldest child of the Hon. John Johnston, M.L.C., and his wife Charlotte Henrietta Hatton. He came to New Zealand as a young boy on the Prince of Wales, arriving on 3 January 1843 in Wellington with his parents John and Henrietta, his younger brother Sydney and a sister who was born during the journey. Johnston married in Wellington on 24 February 1868, Cecilia Augusta, second daughter of Forster Goring. There were four daughters and three sons.
On his return from education in France he worked in his father's business, Johnston & Co but in March 1868 he joined with Charles Pharazyn and William Levin as partners in W H Levin & Co when Nathaniel William Levin retired to return to England. Pharazyn left after two years but Johnston stayed with Willie Levin until 1878 when following his own father's retirement he moved back to his brother Charles in Johnston & Co, the firm their father had started, the pair making it a major importing and exporting business with branches throughout central New Zealand.
Johnston joined the board of the Bank of New Zealand in 1888 when he was appointed by bank shareholders to a committee to investigate and bring the bank's affairs onto a sounder basis. When in 1894 its head office was moved to New Zealand from London he became a shareholder as well as a director of the bank.
He acquired Castlepoint station in the Wairarapa in 1876 while with W H Levin & Co and inherited further property in southern Hawkes Bay from his father. He bought a 1200-acre estate near Awahuri in the Manawatu District in 1888 and built a large house, Highden, there before the turn of the century.
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