Livingston Waddell Houston Westminster Chimes Memorial

Livingston Waddell Houston, Class of 1884, drowned in North River in August 1886, shortly before he was to enter Washington and Lee University's Law School. His classmates erected a brass memorial tablet in Lee Chapel the following year. More than sixty years after his death, Houston's close friend and former classmate Leslie Lyle Campbell donated a Westminster chimes and clock system to Lee Chapel in his memory.

Installed in September 1948, the memorial consisted of four bronze bells in the chapel tower, the largest weighing 1,250 pounds. The chimes were originally programmed to ring on Sundays, but President Robert E. R. Huntley later arranged for them to sound daily. In December 1972, The Ring-tum Phi encouraged students to reflect on their meaning: “Next time you hear the bell ring, think twice before you pick up your books and walk out of class. The bell you hear may not be the one to signal the end of the period.”

A marble plaque on the chapel's southern wall commemorated Campbell's gift and reproduced the traditional prayer associated with the Westminster chimes: “Lord, through this hour, be Thou our guide; so by Thy power, no foot shall slide.” The chimes were also mentioned in R. T. Smith's 2003 short story Docent, in which a fictional chapel guide dismisses the circumstances of Houston's death as unimportant. The passage illustrates how the histories of once-beloved alumni could fade from institutional memory.

University officials removed the plaque alongside other memorials from the chapel sanctuary in 2021. In June 2026, the university returned the tablet to public display in the newly renovated “Foundations and Frameworks” gallery of the chapel museum.

THE WESTMINSTER CHIMES AND CLOCK
IN THE LEE CHAPEL
ARE IN MEMORY OF
LIVINGSTON WADDELL HOUSTON
BORN FEBRUARY 26, 1867
AT WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITY, 1879 — 1884
DROWNED IN NORTH RIVER, VIRGINIA AUGUST 2, 1886
THE MEMORIAL CHIMES AND CLOCK WERE PLACED IN THIS CHAPEL IN 1948
BY HIS FRIEND AND COLLEGEMATE, LESLIE LYLE CAMPBELL
“LORD, THROUGH THIS HOUR, BE THOU OUR GUIDE,
SO, BY THY POWER, NO FOOT SHALL SLIDE.”
WORDS FOR THE OLD WESTMINSTER CHIMES, LONDON

On June 4, 2021, the Washington and Lee University Board of Trustees announced plans to rename Lee Chapel and restore its auditorium to an “unadorned design,” physically separating it from the Lee family crypt and memorial sculpture. As part of these changes, university officials removed twenty historical plaques and memorials from the chapel sanctuary.

In a July 21, 2022, update, the university announced that “most of the other plaques will be moved to the galleries in the building or to the new institutional history museum, where they can be displayed with more historical context.”

When the renovated chapel galleries reopened in June 2026, six memorials removed from the chapel sanctuary in 2021, including this one, were returned to public display. These plaques were installed together in a display case in the Foundations and Frameworks exhibit of the chapel museum, without accompanying descriptions, interpretation, or historical context.

Eleven memorials removed from the chapel in 2021 have still not been returned to public display. The university has not responded to recent TGR inquiries concerning the whereabouts and future exhibition of removed plaques. However, in September 2026 correspondence with The W&L Spectator, Museum Director Matt Davis stated: “Our storage facility is not open to the public, nor do we make a list of our collections inventory available to the public.” He further explained that “the size and weight of some of these artifacts are not conducive to public viewing.” Regarding their future exhibition, Davis wrote: “It is possible that some or all of these artifacts will eventually be incorporated into temporary or permanent exhibits once the new museum is open, and we hope to have online databases and viewing rooms in the future.”

1. https://ia800608.us.archive.org/9/items/houstonfamilyinv00camp/houstonfamilyinv00camp.pdf

2. https://www.virginiachronicle.com/?a=d&d=LG19480908.1.1

3. https://digitalarchive.wlu.edu/islandora/ring-tum-phi-october-8-1948

4. https://digitalarchive.wlu.edu/islandora/ring-tum-phi-december-6-1972

5. https://www.wlu.edu/about-w-l/leadership/board-of-trustees/messages-from-the-board-of-trustees/message-archive-2020-2023/the-future-of-washington-and-lee-university

6. https://columns.wlu.edu/update-on-university-chapel-renovations/

7. https://columns.wlu.edu/university-chapel-renovations-nearing-completion/