Walter’s father, a successful Inner Temple barrister who became Charles I’s chief baron of the Exchequer, purchased Sarsden in Oxfordshire shortly after this Member’s birth. Although Walter followed his father to the bar, he was never appointed to higher legal office. His election to Parliament in 1628 was probably the product of an alliance between his first cousin, Edward Littleton II*, and James Tomkins*, for when the franchise was restored to Weobley in 1628, Walter shared its representation in the third Caroline Parliament with Tomkins’ son William. He left no trace on the parliamentary records.
In 1630 Walter succeeded to an estate generally estimated at £1,200 p.a. or more, but was reduced to temporarily embarrassed circumstances by his father’s charitable bequests, the generous portions left to his brother and sisters, and expenditure of £1,000 in litigation.
On the outbreak of civil war Walter was one of the first in Oxfordshire to take up arms for the king. Together with Richard Spencer*, Sir Gervase Clifton*, and Thomas Fanshawe II*, he advanced £27,400 to the royalist coffers.
After the Restoration Walter’s brother became groom of the Bedchamber and lieutenant of the Ordnance. Walter himself stood for Oxfordshire at a by-election in 1663, presumably in the hope of drawing attention to his financial claims. However, he was defeated by William Knollys†. In the following year the king, overriding the protests of Lord Treasurer Southampton, awarded Walter £6,500.