Henry Warre

Sir

Henry Warre
General Warre about 1860
Birth nameHenry James Warre
Born12 January 1819[1]
Cape Town, Cape Colony
Died3 April 1898(1898-04-03) (aged 79)
London, England
AllegianceUnited Kingdom United Kingdom
Service / branch British Army
Years of service1837–1881
RankLieutenant-General
CommandsBombay Army
Battles / wars
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath

Lieutenant-General Sir Henry James Warre KCB (12 January 1819 – 3 April 1898) was a British Army officer.

Early life

Warre was born in Cape Town, Cape Colony, the son of Lieutenant-General Sir William Warre (1784–1853) and Selina Anna Maling, the youngest daughter of Christopher Thompson Maling.[1] His father saw service in the Peninsular War as aide-de-camp to William Beresford, 1st Viscount Beresford.[2] His mother's elder sister Sophia married Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave, and was the mother of Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby.[3]

He was baptised on his first birthday at St Nicholas Church, Brighton, Sussex.[4]

Military career

Educated at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Warre was commissioned into the 54th Regiment of Foot in 1837.[5] He became aide-de-camp to Sir Richard Downes Jackson, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces in British North America in 1839.[5] A staff appointment in Canada led to his official investigation of the river route from Montreal to the Red River Settlement, which he traversed by canoe a distance of 2,300 miles.[6]

Warre's Oregon City 1845

Subsequently, in 1845 he was sent on a military reconnaissance mission, riding through the Rockies, with Mervin Vavasour to the Oregon Country to prepare for a potential Anglo-American war over the territory.[5] During the trip he made paintings and sketches of the region, and reported on possible military preparations.[7]

A self portrait, his hut in the Crimea, before Sebastopol, July 1855.
Camp before Fort Kinburn, Dnieper River, from the Cemetery - 26 October 1855. 9 days after the battle.

He served throughout the Crimean War, October 1853 to February 1856. Warre commanded the 57th Regiment of Foot in the Crimean War in 1855.[5]

Taking part in the Siege of Sebastopol, he did his part in the quelling of the Indian Mutiny. He then transferred from India to take part in the Māori war of 1861 to 1865. He led his regiment in the Second Taranaki War in New Zealand in Spring 1865, seizing Māori land on the north Taranaki coast and establishing posts from Pukearuhe, 50 km north of New Plymouth, to Ōpunake, 80 km south of the town.[8]

He became Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay Army in 1878 and served in that role during the Second Anglo-Afghan War,[9] going to the support of Sir Donald Stewart, holding the line of march from the Indus to Kandahar, enabled him to relieve Kabul. He retired in 1881.[10] He was awarded the K.C.B. on 29 May 1886.[11]

Warre was also a talented artist and published two books of sketches from his journeys: Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory (1848)[12] and Sketches in the Crimea (1856).[13]

The National Library of New Zealand has an extensive collection of 149 of his sketches covering the Crimean War, Europe, the United States, New Zealand, and some European items.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1898. p. 1702.
  2. ^ Vetch, Robert Hamilton (1899). "Warre, William" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 59. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  3. ^ Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 2920. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
  4. ^ England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538–1975
  5. ^ a b c d Warre, Henry James
  6. ^ "Obituary". No. 3078. The Illustrated London News. 16 April 1898. p. 7. Retrieved 30 July 2024. Volume 112
  7. ^ Joseph Schafer, "Documents Relative to Warre and Vavasour’s Military Reconnoissance in Oregon, 1845-6", Quarterly of the Oregon Historical Society, Vol. 10, No. 1 (March, 1909), pp. 1-99.
  8. ^ James Cowan, The New Zealand Wars: A History of the Maori Campaigns and the Pioneering Period: Vol II, Chapter 5, 1922
  9. ^ National Archives
  10. ^ Great Britain. India Office (1819). The India List and India Office List. Harrison. p. 123.
  11. ^ "KCB award". The London Gazette (25592): 2633. 29 May 1886. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
  12. ^ Warre, Sir Henry (1848). Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory. Dickinson & Company. ISBN 9780665172458. Sketches in North America and the Oregon Territory warre.
  13. ^ Warre, Sir Henry (1856). Sketches in the Crimea. Oxford University.
  14. ^ "Warre, Henry James, 1819-1898". Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand. Retrieved 29 July 2024. Army officer and artist. As an army officer in the Buckinghamshire Regiment, he served in British North America, including Canada, as ADC (Aide-de-camp) to his uncle, Sir R. D. Jackson, Commander-in-chief of the British forces. He travelled across country to Oregon and British Columbia in 1845-1846. He also served during the Crimean War. With the rank of Colonel, he served in New Zealand 1861-1865 as Commanding Officer of the 57th Regiment, based in the North Island. He also undertook a sea voyage to the South Island, including visits to Nelson, Lyttelton and Otago in 1865. Painted and drew in pencil and watercolours. His New Zealand drawings and watercolours are held in the Alexander Turnbull Library, Auckland Museum, Auckland Art Gallery, Christchurch Art Gallery, Hocken Library and the National Library of Australia. Canadian watercolours and drawings are held by the Public Archives of Canada, Ottawa.
Military offices
Preceded by C-in-C, Bombay Army
1878–1881 		Succeeded by

Media related to Henry James Warre at Wikimedia Commons