11 Facts About Walter Weston

Walter Weston was an English clergyman and Anglican missionary who helped popularise recreational mountaineering in Japan at the turn of the 20th century.

Walter Weston then went up to Clare College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1883 and MA in 1887.

Walter Weston studied for the Church of England's priesthood at Ridley Hall, Cambridge.

Walter Weston was already a mountaineer, and in 1886 and 1887 spent periods climbing in the Alps.

Walter Weston went to Japan as a missionary of the Church of England's Church Missionary Society in 1888, working first at Kumamoto, then serving as chaplain in Kobe from 1889 to 1895.

Walter Weston began mountain climbing while expressing a strong interest in Japanese landscapes, traditions, customs and culture.

Walter Weston published Mountaineering and Exploration in the Japanese Alps.

Walter Weston gave universal currency to the term Japanese Alps, though it was first used before he came to Japan.

Walter Weston was instrumental in the establishment of the Japanese Alpine Club in 1906, and became its first honorary member.

Walter Weston was a lecturer for Cambridge University and the Gilchrist Educational Trust and established himself as a writer.

On 3 April 1902, prior to the start of Walter Weston's second extended stay in Japan, he married Frances Emily, second daughter of Sir Francis Fox, a prominent civil engineer.