Walton Shields was born on October 15, 1870, in Oxford, Mississippi.[1] He was the son of John Whitfield Shields and Sallie (Walton) Shields.[1][2] Shields attended the public and private schools of Greenville, Mississippi.[1] He then attended the University of Mississippi and received his B. P. degree in 1889 and L. L. B. degree in 1890.[1][2] He began practicing law in Greenville in 1891.[1] In 1891, Shields also served as District Attorney.[3] In 1898, after the Spanish-American War was declared, he enlisted as a private in Company C of the Second Mississippi Infantry.[2] By the time he was mustered out in 1901, he was a Captain of the Fifth United States volunteer infantry (under Major James K. Vardaman).[1][2][4] In 1902 and 1903, he was the mayor of Greenville, Mississippi.[4] Shields began representing the 29th District as a Democrat in the Mississippi State Senate in the 1917 session, succeeding Van Buren Boddie in the middle of his term, and the term ended in 1920.[5][1] In 1919, Shields was elected to a full term and served from 1920 to 1924.[1] Shields was re-elected again for the 1924–1928 term.[6] Shields died in the middle of this term, on January 19, 1927, in Greenville, Mississippi.[4]