century association biographical archive

Earliest Members of the Century Association

View all members

Whitelaw Reid

Journalist/Diplomat

Centurion, 1870–1912

Full Name James Whitelaw Reid

Born 27 October 1837 in Cedarville, Ohio

Died 15 December 1912 in London, England

Buried Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, Sleepy Hollow, New York

Proposed by Bayard Taylor and S. S. Conant

Elected 2 April 1870 at age thirty-two

Archivist’s Note: Son-in-law of D. Ogden Mills; father of Ogden Reid; grandfather of Whitelaw Reid

Proposer of:

Century Memorial

The public press has recently devoted much space to the distinguished career of Whitelaw Reid. He was an able and successful man, able as a war correspondent in his young days, successful as a newspaper editor, successful as a newspaper proprietor. He understood the art of rising by the quick use of his abilities and the seizure of the favoring moment. He was offered, and declined, the German Embassy, but afterwards accepted the appointment of Ambassador to France. On returning from that country he became a candidate for the Vice-Presidency. Appointed in 1905 as Ambassador to England, he filled that prominent position with éclat until his death. In recognition of his eminence and as an international courtesy, the British Government conveyed his body to this country in an armored cruiser, which on entering our waters was met by an escort of American warships. A stately funeral ceremony followed in St. John’s Cathedral upon the Heights. Mr. Reid married a daughter of our late fellow-member, D. O. Mills.

Henry Osborn Taylor
1913 Century Association Yearbook