Sir Walter Ernest Mortimer Stanford KBE CB CMG (2 August 1850 – 9 September 1933) was a South African civil servant and politician. Stanford was born in Alice, South Africa, in 1850 and was educated at the Lovedale Mission School. He left school and became a clerk under his uncle, the government agent to the Thembu. At age 18 he joined the civil service and was stationed at Queenstown, East London and in 1876 was appointed magistrate to the Qwathi chief, Dalasile, and settled at Engcobo, in Thembuland. He married Alice Sarah Walker in 1883 and they had three sons and four daughters. In 1885 he was promoted to chief magistrate of Griqualand East at Kokstad.