Walter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford, was born on November 19, 1870, in South Shields, Durham, England.

He was a British Liberal and later National Liberal politician. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge (M.A., 1892). He entered his father's shipping firm, renamed the Moor Line in 1895. In 1899, he was elected as a member of parliament for the Oldham constituency and, by 1902, he gained the nomination for a Liberal seat at Dewsbury. He was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board in 1905, a post he held until 1907. Runciman then served as Financial Secretary to the Treasury until 1908. He was sworn to the Privy Council and appointed President of the Board of Education (1908-1911), followed by the post of President of the Board of Agriculture (1911-1914). He also served as President of the Board of Trade (1914-1916). Runciman's final contribution to public life came in July 1938, when Lord Halifax, the Foreign Secretary, asked him to go to Prague to mediate between the rival claims of the Sudetenland Germans and the Czechoslovak government. In October 1938, he rejoined the government as Lord President of the Council, resigning soon after the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. He received the honorary degrees of LL.D from Manchester University (1911) and Bristol (1929) and the DCL from Oxford (1934).

In 1898, he married Hilda Stevenson (1869–1956). He died on November 14, 1949, in Ellingham, Northumberland, England.