WARREN, Charles (1764-1829), of Bedford Square, Mdx. and Sundridge, Kent.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

18 June 1819 - 1826

Family and Education

b. 19 Mar. 1764, 3rd but 2nd surv. s. of Richard Warren, MD,1 physician in ordinary to George III, by Elizabeth, da. of Peter Shaw MD, physician in ordinary to George II and George III. educ. Westminster 1774-81, Jesus, Camb. 1782, BA 1785, MA 1788, fellow 1786-1813; L. Inn 1781, called 1790. m. 9 July 1813, Amelia, da. of Charles Sloper of Sundridge, s.p.

Offices Held

Commr. of bankrupts Jan. 1790-Mar. 1816; chancellor, diocese of Bangor2 1797-d.; KC 8 Mar. 1816; attorney-gen. to Prince of Wales May 1819-Jan. 1820; c.j. of Chester circuit June 1819-d.

Bencher, L. Inn 1816, treasurer 1821, librarian 1822.

Biography

Warren was one of six brothers, all educated at Westminster school, whose success in their chosen professions was promoted by their parents’ court connexions. On 19 Jan. 1790 he joined the Whig Club and was subsequently a Friend of the People. He practised as a barrister, took silk and in May 1819 became attorney-general to the Prince of Wales, for whom he had acted, and, shortly afterwards, chief justice of Chester, the last to hold the office, since after his death no successor was appointed.3

At the same time Warren entered Parliament on a vacancy at Dorchester, on Lord Shaftesbury’s interest, a seat in which he succeeded his fellow lawyer Sir Samuel Shepherd. Tierney, who had got wind of Warren’s intended promotion in December 1818, predicted that he would be ‘a formidable opponent, and, like all new converts, inveterate against his old friends’. In his first session, Warren came to the assistance of administration in the debate on the address, 24 Nov. 1819, stating in reply to Lord Nugent the grounds for asserting that the riotous Manchester meeting of 16 Aug. was illegal. Charles Williams Wynn reported next day that he ‘spoke but indifferently ... and appeared much mortified and annoyed by Burdett’s attacks’.4 Warren died 12 Aug. 1829.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: R. G. Thorne

Notes

  • 1. On him see DNB. Dying in 1797, he left £150,000 to his family.
  • 2. Of which his father’s brother was bishop.
  • 3. Old Westministers, ii. 966; W. R. Williams, Gt. Sessions in Wales, 54.
  • 4. Grey mss, Tierney to Grey, 21 Dec. 1818; NLW, Coedymaen mss 12, f. 930.