Walter Pilliet
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Hon Walter Pilliet JP |
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Walter Pilliet in his 30s
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| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Stanmore |
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In office 1881 – 84 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
8 February 1840 Lyon France |
| Died | 7 November 1885 (aged 45) Wellington New Zealand |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Ann Johnstone (m. 1864) Agnes Hay (m. 1872) |
| Children | three daughters, two sons (including Charles Pilliet) |
| Profession | politician, surveyor, resident magistrate |
Walter Hippolyte Pilliet JP (8 February 1840 – 7 November 1885) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Christchurch, New Zealand. He worked initially as a surveyor and was then resident magistrate in several places. He was a newspaper editor and was represented in Parliament for one term.
He was born in Lyon on 8 February 1840 to an English mother and French father. His mother, Anna (née Coyney), was the daughter of Walter Hill Coyney. His mother's sister, Mary, was the mother of Charles Clifford. His father, Chevalier Jean Hippolyte Pilliet (1793–1881), was an army officer who distinguished himself at Waterloo.
His mother's family was Catholic, and English Catholic relatives had preceded Walter Pilliet in the colony – the Cliffords, the Vavasours, Frederick Weld. These connections assisted him in finding his first position, working as a clerk in the Lands Office in Wellington, upon his arrival, and he was soon transferred to Napier to work in the Hawke's Bay Provincial Survey Department. It was here that he met Sir Donald McLean, then Superintendent of Hawke's Bay Province.
Back in Wellington in 1864, he met his acquaintance Coutts Crawford, who suggested he accompany him to Havelock in the Marlborough Sounds, where gold had recently been discovered. Crawford was resident magistrate there and quickly appointed Pilliet warden of the burgeoning gold fields; by 1865 the 25-year-old Pilliet was himself resident magistrate. He was made a Justice of the Peace in 1866.
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