Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Warde, Henry
WARDE, Sir HENRY (1766–1834), general, born on 7 Jan. 1766, was the fourth son of John Warde (1721–1775) of Squerryes, by his second wife, Kitty Anne (d. 1767), daughter and sole heiress of Charles Hoskins of Croydon, Surrey. The family is descended from a younger branch of that established at Hooton Pagnell in Yorkshire.
Henry entered the army as an ensign in the 1st foot guards in 1783, and on 6 July 1790 was promoted to a lieutenancy with the brevet rank of captain. In the following year he accompanied his regiment to Holland, but was so severely wounded at the siege of Valenciennes that he was compelled to return to England. He rejoined his regiment in June 1794, and continued to serve with it, acting as adjutant to the third battalion, until his promotion to a company, with the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel, on 15 Oct. 1794, when he was sent home.
He served in the expeditions to Ostend and the Helder, and received the brevet rank of colonel on 1 Jan. 1801. In 1804 he was nominated brigadier-general, and in 1807 took part in the expedition to Copenhagen, his name being included in the votes of thanks from both houses of parliament. In the following year he obtained the rank of major-general. He commanded the first brigade of foot guards sent to Spain in 1808 with the force under Sir David Baird [q. v.], and returned to England in 1809 after the battle of Coruña, his name again appearing in the parliamentary vote of thanks. He also received a medal for his services. In the same year he was sent to India, and served under Lieutenant-general (afterwards Sir John) Abercromby (1772–1817) [q. v.] at the capture of Mauritius in 1810. He remained there for some time in command of the troops, and acted as governor from 9 April to 12 July 1811. For his services at the conquest of the island he once more received the thanks of parliament. In 1813 he was appointed to the colonelcy of the 68th foot, and in the same year was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-general. On the enlargement of the order of the Bath on 2 Jan. 1815 he was nominated K.C.B. On 8 Feb. 1821 he was appointed governor of Barbados, in succession to Lord Combermere [see Cotton, Sir Stapleton, first Viscount Combermere]. He arrived in the island on 25 June, and continued in office until 21 June 1827. His administration was popular, although differences between the two branches of the legislature, the council and the house of assembly, at times made the governor's course difficult. The restlessness of the slaves, who were disturbed by rumours of emancipation, also occasioned him anxiety. In 1830 he attained the rank of general, and in 1831 was appointed colonel of the 31st foot. On 13 Sept. of the same year he was nominated G.C.B. He died at his residence, Dean House, near Alresford in Hampshire, on 1 Oct. 1834. On 18 May 1808 he was married to Molina (1776–1835), daughter of John Thomas of Hereford. By her he had five sons—Henry John, Edward Charles (who is noticed below), Frederick Moore, Walter, and Augustus William—and a daughter, Harriett (d. 1874), who on 4 May 1826 was married to Francis North, sixth earl of Guilford. After his death, on 29 Jan. 1861, she was married, secondly, to John Lettsom Elliott on 10 Feb. 1863.
Sir Edward Charles Warde (1810–1884), general, born on 13 Nov. 1810, was the second son of Sir Henry Warde. On 19 May 1828 he was gazetted second lieutenant in the royal artillery, and on 30 June 1830 was promoted to a first lieutenancy in the royal horse artillery. He obtained a company on 5 June 1841, and was nominated lieutenant-colonel on 17 Feb. 1854. He commanded the siege train before Sebastopol until incapacitated by fever three weeks before the fall of the fortress; and on the conclusion of the war received, on 29 Aug. 1857, the rank of colonel, taking command of the artillery at Aldershot. In 1859, when war with France seemed imminent, he was ordered to superintend the rearmament of Malta. In 1861 he was appointed to command the artillery in the south-west district, and in 1864 was selected to command the Woolwich district. While in command of this district an explosion at Erith destroyed the river wall and threatened to flood the country to Camberwell, and burst the great sewers just completed. In less than an hour Warde had taken measures which averted the catastrophe. He received the thanks of government, and, on resigning the command in 1869, was appointed K.C.B. He attained the rank of major-general on 27 Feb. 1866, of colonel commandant on 29 March 1873, of lieutenant-general on 17 Nov. 1878, and of general on 1 Oct. 1877. He died at Brighton on 11 June 1884. On 24 Aug. 1843 he married Jane (d. 1895), eldest daughter of Charles Lane, rector of Wrotham and rural dean of Shoreham, Kent. By her he had four sons and three daughters (Times, 14 June 1881; Army Lists; Foster, Baronetage and Knightage).
[Gent. Mag. 1835, ii. 207; Burke's Landed Gentry; Schomburgk's Hist. of Barbados, 1848, pp. 413–25.]