Walter Woods Johnston

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.

Family and immigration 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. 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 Manawatu County in 1888 and built a large house, Highden, there before the turn of the century.

Politician

He represented the Manawatu electorate from 1871 to 1884, when he retired taking his children to England for five years to be educated. Cecilia his widow died at Highden Awahuri 22 December 1922.