Walter Palk (1742-1819), of (later renamed Syon Abbey) in the parish of Rattery, Devon, England, was a Member of Parliament for his family's Pocket Borough of Ashburton in Devon from 1796 to 1811. He served as Sheriff of Devon (1791-2) and in 1798 was a Captain in the Ashburton Volunteer Militia, one of many such units formed across Devon to counter a possible invasion by Napoleon.