Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hale, Warren Stormes
HALE, WARREN STORMES (1791–1872), lord mayor of London, descended from a family settled in Bennington, Hertfordshire, was born on 2 Feb. 1791. Left an orphan at an early age, he came to London in 1804 as apprentice to his brother, Ford Hale, a wax-chandler in Cannon Street. He subsequently carried on a successful business in Cateaton Street, now Gresham Street, removing afterwards to Queen Street. His success was largely due to the fact that he was the first English manufacturer to utilise the valuable investigations made by MM. Chevreul and Lussac, the celebrated French chemists, in relation to animal and vegetable fatty acids. He was elected a member of the common council on St. Thomas's day, 1826, and was mainly instrumental in 1833 in inducing the corporation to apply the bequest of John Carpenter (1370?–1441?) [q. v.], for the clothing and education of four poor boys, to the establishment of a large public day school. An act (4 & 5 Will. IV, c. 35) was obtained, under which the City of London School was erected in 1837, and Hale was elected chairman of the committee, an office which he retained till his death. He also took a principal part in promoting the foundation by the corporation of the Freemen's Orphan School for children of both sexes, which was opened at Brixton in 1854. In 1849 and again in 1861 he served as master of the Company of Tallow Chandlers, and his portrait in full length is preserved in their hall in Dowgate Hill. He was appointed deputy of Coleman Street ward in 1850, and became alderman of the same ward on 3 Oct. 1856. He served the office of sheriff in 1858–9, and that of lord mayor in 1864–5. During his mayoralty he continued the work of his two immediate predecessors in raising a fund for the relief of the Lancashire operatives who suffered from the cotton famine of 1862–5, and his arms appear in the memorial window at the east end of the Guildhall. To commemorate his public services in the cause of education, particularly as originator of the City of London School, and chairman of its committee of management for more than thirty years, a fund was raised during his mayoralty, as a result of which the Warren Stormes Hale scholarship was established in connection with the school on 28 July 1865.
He died on 23 Aug. 1872 at his house, West Heath, Hampstead, and was buried on the 30th in Highgate cemetery. In 1812 he married a daughter of Alderman Richard Lea, and left a son, Josiah, and two unmarried daughters. A bust by Bacon and a portrait by Allen are at the City of London School, and a portrait by Dicksee is at the Freemen's Orphan School.
[Times, 4 Oct. 1856 p. 10, 22 Oct. 1856 p. 7, 24 Aug. 1872 p. 9; City Press, 12 Nov. 1864, Suppl., 24 Aug. 1872 p. 5, 31 Aug. 1872 p. 4, 12 Oct. 1872 p. 5; Price's Descriptive Account of Guildhall, 1886, p. 85; City of London School, Prospectus of Scholarships, Medals, &c. 1867, p. 26, and App. p. 3.]