diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 76274d7a..559d3d79 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@
 * is_invocable works with move-only types
 * Use std::function and reference wrapper
 * Add session_alloc to example/common
+* Silence spurious warning
 
 WebSocket
 
diff --git a/include/beast/http/detail/basic_parser.hpp b/include/beast/http/detail/basic_parser.hpp
index 14500f6a..f64f69e7 100644
--- a/include/beast/http/detail/basic_parser.hpp
+++ b/include/beast/http/detail/basic_parser.hpp
@@ -616,7 +616,7 @@ protected:
         }
         name = make_string(first, p);
         ++p; // eat ':'
-        char const* token_last;
+        char const* token_last = nullptr;
         for(;;)
         {
             // eat leading ' ' and '\t'