Walter Hippolyte Pilliet JP was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Christchurch, New Zealand.
24 Facts About Walter Pilliet
1.
2.
Walter Pilliet worked initially as a surveyor and was then resident magistrate in several places.
3.
Walter Pilliet was a newspaper editor and was represented in Parliament for one term.
4.
Walter Pilliet was born in Lyon on 8 February 1840 to an English mother and French father.
5.
Walter Pilliet's father, Chevalier Jean Hippolyte Pilliet, was an army officer who distinguished himself at Waterloo.
6.
Walter Pilliet was made a justice of the peace in 1866.
7.
Walter Pilliet met Mary Ann Johnston of Nelson and married her in that city in 1865.
8.
Woods and Walter Pilliet were soon back in the area, this time on the ketch Sea Bird from Lyttelton.
9.
Walter Pilliet received a serious injury to his ankle and the survey gear was lost, but all on board survived.
10.
Walter Pilliet had two enjoyable years on the Peninsula, where he was popular with both the English and French settler families due to his knowledge of languages.
11.
Walter Pilliet married again to a daughter of Ebenezer and Agnes Hay, a very well known Banks Peninsula family, but happiness was once more short-lived.
12.
Walter Pilliet then pursued a newspaper career, editing and purchasing at least one Canterbury newspaper.
13.
Walter Pilliet was elected for Bays in the Canterbury Provincial Council.
14.
Walter Pilliet served on the seventh Council and represented his electorate from 11 April 1874 until the dissolution on 31 October 1876.
15.
Walter Pilliet chose not to stand for election this time, neither did anybody else, and Montgomery was thus returned unopposed.
16.
Montgomery and Walter Pilliet contested the 1875 general election, which was held on 29 December.
17.
Walter Pilliet's problem was that their political views were quite similar, and the voters were satisfied with Montgomery's performance.
18.
Walter Pilliet did not stand for the 1879 general election in any of the electorates.
19.
Walter Pilliet was declared elected with a majority of 21 votes.
20.
Walter Pilliet was declared elected with a majority of 124 votes.
21.
Walter Pilliet's wife died on 31 May 1872, aged 26 years.
22.
Walter Pilliet is buried at Mount Street Catholic Cemetery in that city.
23.
Walter Pilliet remarried to a Scottish shipping magnate, and never saw the children again.
24.
Walter Pilliet's father had fought for the French army in his youth, and died in Dunkerque in 1881, and his mother died there in 1893.