Walter Hines Page

In the vestibule of the Chapter House at Westminster Abbey is a memorial to American Ambassador Walter Hines Page. He was ambassador in England during the Great War and his English friends set up a subscription for the memorial. It was unveiled on the same day as his memorial service in the Abbey, 3rd July 1923, by Viscount Grey of Fallodon. The sculptor was Eric Gill and the inscription reads:

To the Glory of God and in memory of Walter Hines Page 1855-1918 Ambassador of the United States of America to the Court of St James's 1913-1918. The friend of Britain in her sorest need

It is placed below a memorial window to fellow American James Russell Lowell.

He was a son of Allison and Catherine Page and was born at Cary, North Carolina on 18th August 1855. He was educated at Bingham School and John Hopkins university. On 15th November 1880 he married Willia Wilson and they had four children Ralph, Frank, Arthur and Katherine. He was a teacher and journalist and friend of the future President Woodrow Wilson. He died on 21st December 1918 after resigning his English post and was buried in the family plot at Bethesda cemetery near Aberdeen, North Carolina.

Further reading

"Life and letters of Walter H. Page" by Burton Hendrick, 1924