publishing business in 1843, and in 1851 Warne became a partner in the firm, which was then styled Routledge & Co.; the name was changed to Routledge, Warne & Routledge in 1858 on Routledge's son, Robert Warne Routledge, becoming a partner. From 1851 till 1865 Warne was largely identified with the success of the firm. In 1865, on the advice of the publisher George Smith, of Smith, Elder & Co., Warne began an independent publishing career at 15 Bedford Street, Strand (now Chandos House). There he was joined by Edward James Dodd (a lifelong friend and colleague at Routledge's), and by A. W. Duret, who left the firm of the Dalziel brothers to join him. An American branch was established in New York in 1881.
Warne effectively emulated Routledge's ambition to popularise good literature. In 1868 he inaugurated the ‘Chandos Classics,’ in which issue an edition of Shakespeare ultimately numbered 340,000 copies. Of the 154 volumes in the series, five million copies were sold. ‘Nuttall's Dictionary,’ which was originally published by Routledge, Warne & Routledge in 1863, was first issued by Warne in January 1867, when 668,000 copies were soon disposed of. In 1886 a fully revised edition appeared, of which the circulation approached by 1911 one million copies.
Warne was active in the publication of coloured picture books for children [see Evans, Edmund, Suppl. II]. He inaugurated a new era between 1870 and 1880 by his issue of the ‘Aunt Louisa toy books,’ which were followed by new editions of Edward Lear's ‘Book of Nonsense,’ by the children's books (1878–1885) of Randolph Caldecott [q. v.], and later by the works of Kate Greenaway [q. v. Suppl. II] and Mr. Walter Crane. In the field of fiction Warne issued Disraeli's novels before their transfer to Messrs. Longman in 1870 and published in London nearly all Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett's novels, including ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ (1886). He also first introduced to the English reading public the three American magazines, the ‘Century,’ ‘St. Nicholas,’ and ‘Scribner's.’
In 1895 Warne, with his partner Dodd, left the business (Duret had retired in 1879), and he was succeeded by his three surviving sons, Harold Edmund, William Fruing, and Norman (d. 1905). Throughout his career Warne combined enterprise and business capacity with a keen interest in good literature. He died at his residence, 8 Bedford Square, on 7 Nov. 1901, and was buried at Highgate. He married on 6 July 1852, Louisa Jane, daughter of William Fruing of St. Helier's, Jersey, and had issue seven sons and three daughters. Three sons and two daughters survived him. A portrait in oils of Warne, painted by Henry Stannard, R.I., is in the possession of a daughter, Miss Amelia Louisa Warne, at 19 Eton Villas, Haverstock Hill, N.W.
[The Times, 15 Nov. 1901; Publishers' Circular (with portrait), Literature, Athenæum, 16 Nov. 1901; information kindly supplied by Mr. W. Fruing Warne.]
WARNER, CHARLES, whose real name was Charles John Lickfold (1846–1909), actor, born in Kensington, London, on 10 Oct. 1846, was son of James Lickfold, actor, by his wife Hannah. He was educated at Westbury College, Highgate, and was intended for the profession of an architect, to which a brother of his father belonged. His father was a member of Samuel Phelps's company at Sadler's Wells, and Charles made his first appearance on the stage on 24 Jan. 1861 at Windsor Castle, as a page in Lytton's ‘Richelieu,’ at a command performance by Phelps's company. Subsequently he entered the office of his uncle, the architect, but within a few months, despite his parents' objections, he ran away and obtained an engagement, under James Rodgers, at the Theatre Royal, Hanley. There he made his first appearance in February 1862, as Bras Rouge in Charles Dillon's ‘The Mysteries of Paris,’ appearing on the same evening as Muley Sahib in M. G. Lewis's tragedy ‘The Castle Spectre.’ He spent a short period with Rodgers at Hanley, Lichfield, and Worcester, and the following year joined H. Nye Chart's company at the Theatre Royal, Brighton.
He made his first appearance on the London stage, under George Vining's management, at the Princess's Theatre, 25 April 1864, when he played Benvolio in ‘Romeo and Juliet’ with Stella Colas. After a short season at Liverpool he was engaged by Edmund Falconer and F. B. Chatterton for three autumn and winter seasons at Drury Lane Theatre. He first appeared with Phelps there on 23 Sept. 1865 in a minor part in ‘Macbeth,’ and from September 1866 to March 1868 he supported Phelps and others in a round of Shakespearean and other plays. In the summer of 1866 he acted at the Sadler's Wells and Haymarket Theatres; his parts included Ned Plummer in ‘Dot,’ Careless
