WARDLAW, HENRY (d. 1440), Scottish prelate, was a son of Sir Andrew Wardlaw and a nephew of Walter Wardlaw (d. 1390), bishop of Glasgow, who is said to have been made a cardinal by the anti-pope Clement VII. in 1381. Educated at the universities of Oxford and of Paris, Henry Wardlaw returned to Scotland about 1385, and owing to his influential connexions received many benefices in the Church. He passed some time at Avignon, and it was whilst he was residing at the papal court that he was chosen bishop of St Andrews, being consecrated in 1403. Returning to Scotland he acted as tutor to the future king, James I., and finished the work of restoring his cathedral. Then having helped to bring about the release of James from his captivity in England, he crowned this king in May 1424, and afterwards acted as one of his principal advisers. He appears to have been an excellent bishop, although he tried to suppress the teaching of John Wycliffe by burning its advocates. He died on the 6th of April 1440. Wardlaw's chief title to fame is the fact that he was the founder of the university of St Andrews, the first Scottish university. He issued the charter of foundation in February 1411, and the privileges of the new seat of learning were confirmed by a bull of Pope Benedict XIII., dated the 28th of August 1413. The university was to be "an impregnable rampart of doctors and masters to resist heresy."
WARDROBE, a portable upright cupboard for storing clothes.
The earliest wardrobe was a chest, and it was not until some
degree of luxury was attained in regal palaces and the castles
of powerful nobles that separate accommodation was provided
for the sumptuous apparel of the great. The name of wardrobe
was then given to a room in which the wall-space was filled with
cupboards and lockers—the drawer is a comparatively modern
invention. From these cupboards and lockers the modern
wardrobe, with its hanging spaces, sliding shelves and drawers,
was slowly evolved. In its movable form as an oak "hanging
cupboard" it dates back to the early 17th century. For probably
a hundred years such pieces, massive and cumbrous in form,
but often with well-carved fronts, were made in fair numbers;
then the gradual diminution in the use of oak for cabinet-making
produced a change of fashion. Walnut succeeded oak as the
favourite material for furniture, but hanging wardrobes in walnut
appear to have bepn made very rarely, although clothes presses,
with drawers and sliding trays, were frequent. During a large
portion of the 18th century the tallboy (q.v.) was much used
for storing clothes. Towards its end, however, the wardrobe
began to develop into its modern form, with a hanging cupboard
at each side, a press in the upper part of the central
portion and drawers below. As a rule it was of mahogany,
but so soon as satinwood and other hitherto scarce finely
grained foreign woods began to be obtainable in considerable
quantities, many elaborately and even magnificently inlaid
wardrobes were made. Where Chippendale and his school
had carved, Sheraton and Hepplewhite and their contemporaries
obtained their effects by the artistic employment of deftly
contrasted and highly polished woods. The first step in the
evolution of the wardrobe was taken when the central doors,
which had hitherto enclosed merely the upper part, were carried
to the floor, covering the drawers as well as the sliding shelves,
and were fitted with mirrors.
WARD-ROOM (i.e. the room of the guard), the cabin occupied
by the commissioned officers, except the captain, in a man-of-war.
In the wooden line-of-battle ships it was above the gunroom.
WARE, a market town in the Hertford parliamentary division
of Hertfordshire, England, on the river Lea, 22 m. N. of London
by a branch of the Great Eastern railway. Pop. of urban
district (1901) 5573. The church of St Mary is a cruciform
Decorated and Perpendicular building of flint and stone, consisting of chancel (built, it is supposed, by Lady Margaret
Beaufort, countess of Richmond, and mother of Henry VII.),
lady chapel to the south (c. 1380), nave of five bays of the time of Richard II., transepts, aisles, south porch and embattled
tower of the time of Edward III. There is an elaborate
Perpendicular font. The modern mansion of The Priory, to the
west of the town, occupies the site of a priory of the order of
St Francis, founded, according to Dugdale, by Hugh de Grantmaisrul,
lord of Ware. A portion of the original building is
incorporated in the modern one. Among public buildings are
the corn exchange and the town-hall, which includes a literary
institute and library. The famous "Great Bed of Ware,"
referred to in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which formerly was
at the Saracen's Head in Ware, has been removed to Rye House,
2 m. distant, the scene of the Rye House plot of 1683 against
Charles II. The town possesses breweries and brick-fields,
and there is a large trade in malt, assisted by the navigation of
the Lea to London. Near the village of Great Amwell (1 m.
S.E.) are the sources of the New River, formed in 1606–1612 to
supply London with water; and on a small island in the stream
stands a monument to Sir Hugh Myddleton, through whose
exertions this work was carried cut.
WARE, a township of Hampshire county, Massachusetts,
U.S.A., traversed by the Ware river, and about 25 m. E.N.E. of
Springfield. Pop. (1880) 4817, (1890) 7329, (1900) 8263, of
whom 3263 were foreign-born, (1910 census) 8774. Area
29.3 sq. m. The township is served by the Boston & Albany and
Boston & Maine railways, and by two interurban electric lines.
Its average elevation is about 550 ft. above sea-level. There
is a public library (14,225 volumes in 1910). In 1905 the value
of the factory products was $3,783,696, 23.2% more than in
1900. Among the manufactures are cotton and woollen goods,
and boots and shoes. The township owns and operates its
waterworks. Because of its hard and rough soil, Ware was not
settled as early as the surrounding townships, the first permanent
settlement being made in 1730. It was incorporated
in 1742 as a precinct, in 1761 as a district (formed from parts
of Brookfield, Palmer and Western, now Warren, and certain
common lands), and in 1775 as a separate township. In 1823
additions were made from Brookfield and Western.
WAREHAM, a market town and municipal borough in the
eastern parliamentary division of Dorsetshire, England, 12112 m.
S.W. by W. from London by the London & South-Western
railway. Pop. (1901) 2003. It lies between the rivers Frome
and Piddle, 112 m. above their outflow into Poole harbour. The
town is of high antiquity, and is partially surrounded by earthworks
probably of British construction. The church of St Mary
contains a chapel dedicated to St Edward, commemorating
that Edward who was murdered at Corfe Castle in this neighbourhood,
whose body lay here before its removal to Shaftesbury.
It also possesses a remarkable Norman font of lead. Two
other ancient churches remain, but are not used for worship.
There are ruins of a priory dedicated to SS. Mary, Peter and
Ethelwold, and the site of the old castle may be traced. The
town and neighbourhood have been long noted for their lime
and cement, and large quantities of potters', pipe, fire and other
kinds of clay are sent to Staffordshire and to foreign countries.
The borough is under a mayor, 4 aldermen, and 12 councillors.
Area 251 acres.
Owing to its situation as a key of Purbeck, the site of Warham (Werham, Warham) has been occupied from early times. The earthworks, of British origin, were modified in almost every successive age. That Wareham was a pre-Saxon town is evident from Assers statement that its British name was Durngueir. The early chroniclers declare that St Aldhelm founded a church near Wareham about 701, and perhaps the priory, which is mentioned as existing in 876, when the Danes retired from Cambridge to a strong position in this fort. Their occupation was not lengthy. Having made terms with Alfred, they broke the conditions and returned to Cambridge. In the following year they were again at Wareham, which they made their headquarters. Beorhtric, the immediate predecessor of Ecgbert, was buried here. Further incursions made by the Danes in 998 and in 1015 under Canute probably resulted in the destruction of the priory, on the site of which a later house was founded in the 12th century as a cell of the Norman abbey of Lysa, and in the decayed condition of Wareham in 1086, when 203 houses
