William Walter Phelps was a United States Congressman and an ambassador to Germany and Austria-Hungary. He was elected to the House of Representatives twice. He served from 1873 to 1875 and from 1883 to 1889. He was the ambassador to Austria-Hungary from 1881 to 1882. He was the ambassador to Germany from 1889 to 1893. Toward the end of his life he served as a judge in Teaneck.
His father was businessman John Jay Phelps I. He married Eleanor "Ellen" Maria Sheffield on July 26, 1860. He had three children. Lieutenant John Jay II, Colonel Sheffield "Ted", and Marian Phelps Peters. He lived in Teaneck and Englewood.
