Before his success at Louisbourg in 1745, he had been making interest with the Duke of Newcastle ‘for the government of Jersey (New England) when it becomes vacant,’ the having which might, he wrote, ‘be an introduction to that of New York, where I should be at the pinnacle of my ambition and happiness’ (Warren to Anson, 2 April 1745). After the peace, however, he settled down quietly in London. He was generally recognised as one of the richest commoners in the kingdom, and member of parliament for Westminster, for which he was elected on 1 July 1747, and sat till his death. The freedom of the city had been conferred on him after the victory off Cape Finisterre, and in June 1752 he was elected alderman of Billingsgate ward. He declined the honour, on the ground that it would interfere with his ‘military office.’ He was still elected, and, refusing to serve, paid the fine of 500l. A few days afterwards he crossed over to Ireland, where he died of an ‘inflammatory fever’ on 29 July 1752. An ornate monument, by Roubiliac, was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey. Portraits of him were painted by T. Hudson and N. Parr and engraved by Faber and White (Bromley, p. 288).
While in the Launceston, refitting at New York, he married Susannah, daughter of Stephen de Lancy, who brought him ‘a pretty fortune.’ By her he had three daughters: Charlotte, who married Willoughby Bertie, fourth earl of Abingdon [q. v.]; Anne, who married Charles Fitzroy, first baron Southampton [q. v.]; and Susannah, who married Colonel William Skinner. About the time of his marriage Warren bought a farm of three hundred acres on Manhattan Island, which was considerably increased by a gift from the city of New York in recognition of the capture of Louisbourg. The property, engulfed in New York, is now of immense value, but it was sold by Warren's heirs a few years after his death.
[Charnock's Biogr. Nav. iv. 184; Naval Chron. (with a portrait) xii. 257; Beatson's Naval and Military Memoirs, vol. i.; Anson Correspondence, Addit. MS. 15957; Commission and Warrant books and official letters in the Public Record Office; Stone's Life of Sir William Johnson, i. 152 sq.; Garneau's Hist. du Canada, ii. 190; Winsor's Hist. of America, v. 439. An article on Greenwich (New York) in Harper's Mag. August, 1893, p. 343, gives some interesting particulars of the Manhattan property.]
WARREN, Sir RALPH (1486?–1553), lord mayor of London, son of Thomas Warren, a fuller, born about 1486, was admitted to the freedom of the Mercers' Company in 1507, after serving his apprenticeship to William Buttry or Botre, one of the principal mercers of his time. Warren soon attained to the highest position as a merchant, and belonged to the two great mercantile corporations of Merchant Adventurers and Merchants of the Staple. He was warden of the Mercers' Company in 1521 and master in 1530 and 1542. His wealth and influence gave him excellent opportunities of serving the company's interests. After the surrender of the hospital of St. Thomas of Acon, on the dissolution of monasteries in 1538, Warren was largely instrumental with Sir Richard Gresham and other leading mercers in procuring the purchase by the Mercers' Company of the church and adjoining buildings for their hall. The buildings were vested in Warren in trust for the company, and he executed a series of deeds for that purpose between the years 1542 and 1550 (Watney, Hospital of St. Thomas of Acon, pp. 140, 154, cf. pp. 152, 189).
Shortly before April 1508 Warren was in business in the parish of St. Mary Magdalene, Milk Street (Cal. Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII, i. 238, ii. 1552). In 1524 he carried on trade in the parish of St. Bennet Sherehog, and, although not then forty years old, was assessed for the subsidy at the large sum of 3,000l., which was one third more than the sum contributed by any other leading merchant (ib. iv. i. 421).
Warren became connected with the corporation in 1528, when he was elected alderman for Aldersgate ward on 18 June, removing to the ward of Candlewick on 26 Oct. 1531. He served the office of sheriff in 1528–9. In 1532 Warren appears as the largest creditor in the accounts of the great wardrobe (ib. v. 713). He was one of the six aldermen present at the baptism of Princess Elizabeth at Greenwich on 10 Sept. 1533 (ib. vi. 464–5).
Warren was twice lord mayor, in 1536–7 and in 1544. His first election was at the instance of the king, who sent a letter on 13 Oct., the day of election, to the assembled citizens requiring them to elect Warren as mayor (Wriothesley, Chronicle, i. 57). He was presented to the king at Westminster for approval on 22 Dec., when his election was confirmed and he received the honour of knighthood. On 26 March 1536–7 he was named, as lord mayor, immediately after the chancellor on a special commission of oyer and terminer for the trial of Dr. Mackerell and others who had taken part in the Lincolnshire rebellion (Cal. Letters and Papers,
