A Naval Biographical Dictionary/Warren, James Ferris
WARREN. (Lieut., 1817. f-p., 17; h-p., 30.)
James Ferris Warren was born 1 June, 1789, at Portsmouth. He is youngest brother of Retired Commander Chas. Gayton Warren, R.N.
This officer entered the Navy, in July, 1800, as L.M., on board the Bouncer gun-brig, Lieut.-Commander Wm. Rich. Bamber; and was present, 2 April, 1801, in the attack upon the Danish line of defence before Copenhagen. During the after part of the year last mentioned he served with Capt. Solomon Ferris in the Ruby 64 and Hannibal and Thunderer 74’s. He was on board the Hannibal when that ship, as noticed in our memoir of Commander C. G. Warren, was captured off Algeciras. From 1802 until 1804 he was employed, again with Capt. Ferris in the Hercule 74, and with Capts. Fred. Cotterell and John Serrell, in the Cumberland 74. In the boats of the latter ship under Lieut. Geo. Hewish he assisted in cutting out a French man-of-war schooner, near Port au Prince. While boarding on the quarter he received a blow on the head from a cutlass, and was beaten back; but, binding the wound with his neckcloth, he returned to the attack. Lieut. Hewish being killed after displaying desperate valour, the command of the party devolved upon Mr. Warren, who took possession of the vessel, and was sent the next day with her to Jamaica. On leaving the Cumberland he was received, in the course of 1804, on board the Royal William, Capt. John Wainwright, lying at Spithead, and Queen 98, successive flag-ship in the Channel and off Cadiz and Gibraltar, of Admirals John Knight, Sir Rich. Bickerton, and Lord Collingwood. In 1807, after having served for a short time at Portsmouth in the Crown prison-ship, Lieut-Commander Smith, he again joined Lieut. Bamber, on board the Havock 12, in the Baltic. When the French army was subsequently advancing upon the town of Memel, Mr. Warren, who happened to be in attendance there in a boat on Lord Henry Clinton, had the honour, at their personal request, of conveying over to the opposite shore the King, Queen, and Princess of Prussia; all of whom, as soon as Napoleon’s proposals had been acceded to, he conducted back. Having returned to Yarmouth, the Havock was ordered to convey a King’s messenger, Mr. James, with despatches to Heligoland. On arriving off the island directions were given to the Master to proceed on shore and deliver the despatches to the British Consul; but it blowing at the time a gale, and the sea running mountains high, the latter declared it was not possible for him to reach the shore. Perceiving a reluctance on the part of his brother Midshipmen to undertake the service, and aware that importance was attached to the immediate delivery of the papers, Mr. Warren at once volunteered; and, accompanied by a boat’s crew brave as himself, succeeded in landing them. On regaining his ship he had the satisfaction, for his conduct, of being applauded in the warmest manner by Mr. James. In the course of 1808 we find him joining in succession, as a Supernumerary, the Royal William, Capt. Hon. Courtenay Boyle; as Sub-Lieutenant, the Dapper 12, Lieut.-Commander Tatham; again as a Supernumerary (for a passage to the West Indies), the Polyphemus 64, Capt. Wm. Pryce Cumby; and, as Acting-Lieutenant, the Dart sloop, Capt. Thos. Pinto. He was confirmed a Lieutenant, 16 Feb. 1809, into the Captain 74, Capts. Jas. Athol Wood and Christopher John Wm. Nesham; and was subsequently appointed – 11 Dec. 1809, to the Gibraltar 80, Capts. Henry Lidgbird Ball and Robt. Plampin, in the Channel – 2 June, 1811, as First-Lieutenant, after six months of half-pay occasioned by ill health, to the Mermaid armée en flûte, Capt. Hon. Wm. Henry Percy, under whom he escorted the Prince of Orange to Lisbon – 22 April, 1812, in a similar capacity, to the Cadmus 10, Capt. Thos. Fife, in which vessel he served until the following Nov. in the Channel – 1 Feb. 1813, for upwards of three months, to the Queen 74, Capt. Lord Colville, in the North Sea – 23 Sept. following, to the Bienfaisant, Lieut.-Commander M‘Donald, surveying-ship at Plymouth, where he remained until June, 1814 – and 26 July, 1815, to the Northumberland 74, flag-ship of Sir Geo. Cockburn. During his passage home in the Captain from the West Indies Mr. Warren, who when it came on was officer of the middle watch, experienced a violent hurricane near Newfoundland, in which a convoy of 80 sail, at the time in company, suffered much. After accompanying Napoleon Buonaparte to St. Helena in the Northumberland he was placed, in Nov. 1815, on half-pay. His last appointment was to the Coast Guard, in which service he was employed from 25 Oct. 1825 until 15 July, 1830.
Lieut. Warren (who, the date of his commission being altered, now takes rank from 15 May, 1817) married Mary Southgate, eldest daughter of the late Commander Wm. Styles, R.N., by whom he has had issue 13 children. Agent – J. Hinxman.