Collections Online | British Museum

Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience.

Rev Walter Weston

Also known as: Rev Walter Weston; primary name: Weston, Walter
Details: individual; cleric/religious official; British; Male
Life dates: 1860-1940
Biography: Born in Derby, son of a factory owner, educated at Derby School, Clare College and Ridley Hall, Cambridge, took Holy Orders in 1885. Missionary with Church Missionary Society, lived in Japan 1888-95, 1902-5 and 1911-15. Worked first in Kumamoto, then at St Andrew's Church, Kobe; helped at the CMS Theological School in Osaka, served as chaplain to the Seamen's Mission in Kobe. In 1902 married Frances Fox (1872-1937). Later served at St Andrew's Church, Yokohama, and at Christ Church, Yokohama. A keen mountaineer, he spent the summers climbing in the Japan Alps. Wrote extensively on Japan, including 'Mountaineering and Exploring in the Japanese Alps' (1896). After returning to Britain he was an active member of the Alpine Club of Great Britain and the Japan Society of London, and lectured at the University of Cambridge. See AOA Christy Correspondence: Letter Walter Weston, Reading/A W Franks, 24 June 1895 - offer of a selection of 'religious curiosities' from Japan (As.1895,0721.1-7, 12) at the suggestion of Sir William Conway.
Bibliography: A. H. Ion, "Mountain High and Valley Low: Walter Weston (1861-1940) and Japan", in Sir Hugh Cortazzi and Gordon Daniels (eds.), 'Britain and Japan, 1859-1991: Themes and Personalities' (Routledge, 1991), pp. 94-106.