{{short description|American minister, author, and hymnwriter (1883–1918)}} {{use mdy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox person | name = Howard Walter | birth_name = Howard Arnold Walter | birth_date = {{birth date|1883|08|19}} | birth_place = New Britain, Connecticut, US | death_date = {{death date and age|1918|11|01|1883|08|19}} | occupation = {{hlist|Minister|author|hymnwriter}} | alma_mater = {{unbulleted list|Princeton University (1905)|Hartford Seminary}} | notable_works = "My Creed"<br />("I Would Be True") | image = Soul Surgery- Some Thoughts on Incisive Personal Work (page 6 crop).jpg | alt = A portrait photo of a white man with pince-nez spectacles and a moustache, wearing a coat and tie, facing and looking at the camera. | caption = Undated photo of Howard Walter | death_place = Lahore, British Raj | burial_place = Indian Christian Cemetery<br />Lahore, British Raj | spouse = {{marriage|Marguerite B. Darlington<br />|November 21, 1910}} | signature = H. A. Walter signature, 1916-02-22.png }}

'''Howard Arnold Walter''' (August 19, 1883 &ndash; November 1, 1918) was an American Congregationalist minister, author, and hymnwriter.

Born in New Britain, Connecticut, on August 19, 1883,<ref name="1985 101 More Hymn Stories" /> Howard Arnold Walter was the son of Henry S. Walter, superintendent of the Stanley Rule &amp; Level Company.<ref name="1910-11-22 Hartford Courant" /> Walter graduated from Princeton University in 1905, and in 1906, he traveled to the Empire of Japan to teach English at Waseda University. There he wrote his mother a poem on his philosophy of life ("My Creed"), which became the hymn "I Would Be True" years after she submitted it to ''Harper's Magazine''. When Walter returned to the US, he studied at Hartford Seminary, was ordained a Congregationalist minister, and was an assistant minister in Asylum Hill, Connecticut, for three years.<ref name="1985 101 More Hymn Stories" />

Walter married Marguerite B. Darlington<ref name="1910-10-31 Standard Union" /> on November 21, 1910, in a Brooklyn, New York, service officiated by James Henry Darlington.<ref name="1910-11-22 Hartford Courant" /> On November 17, 1911, Marion D. Walter was born to the couple in Hartford, Connecticut.<ref name="1916-02-22 NARA" /> In 1913, the family traveled to Lahore in the British Raj to allow Walter to teach and proselyte the Mohammedans there.<ref name="1985 101 More Hymn Stories" /> Two years later on April 7, 1914, Ruth A. Walter was born in Lahore.<ref name="1916-02-22 NARA" />

Walter died of the Spanish flu<ref name="1985 101 More Hymn Stories" /> in Lahore on November 1, 1918; he was buried there in the Indian Christian Cemetery, plot 211.<ref name="1920-07-02 Report of the Death of an American Citizen" /> His book ''The Religious Life of India: The Ahmadīya Movement'' was published posthumously.<ref name="1918 Ahmadīya Movement" />

==Works== <!-- in chronological order --> * {{cite magazine |last1=Walter |first1=Howard A. |date=May 1907 |title=I Would Be True |magazine=Harper's Magazine |language=en |issn=0017-789X}}<ref name="1985 101 More Hymn Stories" /> * {{cite book |last1=Walter |first1=Howard Arnold |year=1912 |title=My Creed and Other Poems |url=https://archive.org/details/mycreedotherpoem00walt |url-access=registration |language=en |location=Boston |publisher=The Gorham Press |lccn=13000096 |access-date=2024-12-01 |via=Internet Archive}} * {{cite book |last1=Walter |first1=H. A. |year=1918 |editor1-last=Farquhar |editor1-first=J. N. |editor1-link=J. N. Farquhar |editor2-last=Macnicol |editor2-first=Nicol |title=The Religious Life of India: The Ahmadīya Movement |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.20790 |url-access=registration |language=en |location=Calcutta |publisher=Association Press |access-date=2024-12-01 |via=Internet Archive}} * {{cite book |last1=Walter |first1=H. A. |date=1919 |title=Soul Surgery: Some Thoughts on Incisive Personal Work |url=https://archive.org/details/soulsurgerysomet00walt |url-access=registration |language=en |edition=second |location=Calcutta |publisher=Association Press |oclc=1085228839 |access-date=2024-12-01 |via=Internet Archive}}

==References== <references>

<!-- dated sources sorted chronologically -->

<ref name="1910-10-31 Standard Union">{{cite news |date=1910-10-31 |title=Marriage Licenses |work=Brooklyn Standard Union |language=en |location=Brooklyn}}</ref><!-- exhausted -->

<ref name="1910-11-22 Hartford Courant">{{cite news |date=1910-11-22 |title=Mr. Walter Is Married |work=Hartford Courant |language=en |issn=1047-4153 |oclc=8807834}}</ref><!-- exhausted -->

<ref name="1916-02-22 NARA">National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington D.C.; Volume #: ''Volume 001: Colombo, Ceylon''</ref><!-- exhausted -->

<ref name="1918 Ahmadīya Movement">{{cite book |last1=Walter |first1=H. A. |year=1918 |editor1-last=Farquhar |editor1-first=J. N. |editor1-link=J. N. Farquhar |editor2-last=Macnicol |editor2-first=Nicol |title=The Religious Life of India: The Ahmadīya Movement |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.20790 |url-access=registration |language=en |location=Calcutta |publisher=Association Press |chapter=Errata |page=11 |access-date=2024-12-01 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><!-- exhausted -->

<ref name="1920-07-02 Report of the Death of an American Citizen">{{Citation |author=Consulate General of the United States, Karachi |date=1920-07-02 |title=U.S., Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974 |chapter=Report of the Death of an American Citizen: American Consular Service |publication-place=Karachi |language=en |via=Ancestry.com}}</ref><!-- exhausted -->

<ref name="1985 101 More Hymn Stories">{{cite book |last1=Osbeck |first1=Kenneth W. |year=1985 |chapter=I Would Be True |title=101 More Hymn Stories |url=https://archive.org/details/101morehymnstori0000osbe |url-access=registration |language=en |location=Grand Rapids, Michigan |publisher=Kregel Publications |pages=141&ndash;142 |isbn=0-8254-3420-3 |access-date=2024-12-01 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref><!-- exhausted -->

</references>

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walter, Howard Arnold}} Category:1883 births Category:1918 deaths Category:academic staff of Waseda University Category:American Christian hymnwriters Category:American Congregationalist ministers Category:deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic Category:Hartford Seminary alumni Category:Princeton University alumni Category:writers from New Britain, Connecticut