John Rolle Walter

John Rolle Walter (c. 1714 – 30 November 1779) (born John Rolle) was Tory MP for Exeter in 1754–1776 and for Devon in 1776–1779. He held the honorary position of Town Recorder of Great Torrington in 1739–1779, due to his family's long-standing importance as the major local landowner.

He was the second son of John Rolle (1679–1730), MP, of Stevenstone by his wife Isabella Charlotte Walter (d. 1734), daughter of Sir William Walter, 2nd Baronet(c. 1635–1694) of Sarsden, Oxfordshire. The Rolle family was one of the richest and most powerful in Devon and owned several dozen manors, their most ancient holding being Stevenstone near Great Torrington in the north of the county, whilst Bicton in the east was the centre of another large block of territory.

He was educated at New College, Oxford where he matriculated on 2 September 1729, aged 15. Two years later he inherited the estates of his uncle Sir Robert Walter, 4th Baronet (1680–1731), of Sarsden in Oxfordshire, who was childless and whose will directed his heir to adopt the name of Walter. In 1750 he became the heir of his elder brother Henry Rolle, 1st Baron Rolle (1708–1750), of Stevenstone, who died without progeny. On 9 November 1776 he applied for the Stewardship of the Manor of East Hendred, a parliamentary formality to resign a seat in the House of Commons, to resign his seat for Exeter and to contest the more prestigious seat of Devon. Few of his parliamentary actions in the House of Commons survive in the records and no record exists of his having spoken in the House.

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