William Henry Walter

WALTER, William Henry.  b. Newark, New Jersey, 1 July 1825; d. New York, 19 April 1893.  Walter taught music in public schools, and was organist associated with Trinity Church, Manhattan, and its chapels.  He composed at least 43 hymn tunes, most published in Charles Lewis Hutchins*’s The Church Hymnal, Revised and Enlarged (Boston, 1908).  Among his tunes, FESTAL SONG (1872) is still widely sung to a variety of texts. His parents were James Hahn Walter (nda) and Mary (née Cheetham) Walter (1796-1866), daughter of newspaper publisher and author James Cheetham (1772-1810), who came to New York City from Manchester, England in 1798.  Little is known about William’s father, aside from a...