Warren Hamilton Lewis (16 June 1895 – 9 April 1973) was a British historian and officer in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, best known as the elder brother of writer and professor

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

. Warren Lewis was a supply officer with the Royal Army Service Corps of the British Army during and after the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. After retiring in 1932 to live with his brother in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

, he was one of the founding members of the "

Inklings The Inklings were an informal literary discussion group associated with J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis at the University of Oxford for nearly two decades between the early 1930s and late 1949. The Inklings were literary enthusiasts who pra ...

", an informal Oxford literary society. He wrote on French history, and served as his brother's secretary for the later years of C. S. Lewis's life.

Early life

C. S. Lewis referred to his older brother Warren ("Warnie") as "my dearest and closest friend". The lifelong friendship was formed as the boys played together in their home Little Lea, on the outskirts of

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

, writing and illustrating stories for their created world called " Boxen" (a combination of India and a previous incarnation called "Animal-Land"). In 1908, their mother died from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

and as their father mourned her, C. S. ("Jack") and Warren Lewis had only each other for comfort and support. Soon after their mother's death, Jack was sent across the North Channel to join Warren at an English boarding school named Wynyard in

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, just northwest of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where they both endured a harsh headmaster named Robert Capron. Warren had been taken there by his mother Flora on 10 May 1905. In 1909, Warren transferred to Malvern College in

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

and was followed there by his brother a few years later. Warren completed his education at Malvern in 1913.

Military service

He had private studies with

William T. Kirkpatrick William Thompson Kirkpatrick (10 January 1848 - 22 March 1921) was an Irish teacher and grammar school headmaster. He is best known for having been the tutor of the two Lewis brothers from Belfast, Warren Hamilton Lewis, Warnie Lewis and C.S. Lew ...

for four months in preparation for the army entrance exam, beginning on 10 September 1913, and finished 22nd of 201 candidates taking the exam, entitling him to a "prize cadetship", with which he entered the Royal Military College at Sandhurst on 4 February 1914. This gave him a reduction in the fees payable for his attendance. He passed out of the Royal Military College, after only nine months of training due to wartime need; the normal course of study was 18 months to two years. On 1 October 1914, he was commissioned as a

second lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

Royal Army Service Corps The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...

after only nine months of training. He was sent to France on 4 November 1914 to serve with the 4th Company 7th Divisional Train in the British Expeditionary Force. He was made a temporary

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 24 September 1916. After the end of the

, Warren served in such postings as Belgium (1919),

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

(November 1919),

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone,)]. officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered by Liberia to the southeast and Guinea surrounds the northern half of the nation. Covering a total area of , Sierr ...

(9 March 1921 to 23 March 1922),

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

(4 October 1922 to December 1925),

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

(January 1925 until April 1927), and China (two tours of duty, the first beginning on 11 April 1927 in Kowloon,in the British territory of Hong Kong, then later in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, and ending in April 1930; the second beginning on 9 October 1931 and ending on 14 December 1932). He retired on 21 December 1932 with the rank of captain, after 18 years of active service. He was granted the temporary rank of major when recalled to active service on 4 September 1939. After World War II, he took up residence with his brother at a house named

The Kilns The Kilns, also known as C. S. Lewis House, is the house in Risinghurst, Oxford, England, where the author C. S. Lewis wrote all of his Narnia books and other classics. The house itself was featured in the Narnia books.Headington Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. Th ...

, near

, where he lived until the death of C. S. Lewis in November 1963.

Writings

Soon after his first retirement in 1932, Warren Lewis edited the Lewis family papers. During his final retirement, he began researching a topic of his lifelong interest: the history of 17th-century France. He published seven books on France during the reign of

Louis XIV , house = Bourbon , father = Louis XIII , mother = Anne of Austria , birth_date = , birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France , death_date = , death_place = Palace of Vers ...

under the name W. H. Lewis, including ''The Splendid Century: Some Aspects of French Life in the Reign of Louis XIV'' and ''Levantine Adventurer: The travels and missions of the Chevalier d'Arvieux, 1653–1697''. An excerpt from ''The Splendid Century'' appeared first in ''Essays Presented to Charles Williams'', a volume edited by his brother as an informal

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

to benefit Williams's widow. After C. S. Lewis died in 1963, Warren edited the first published edition of his brother's letters (1966), adding a memoir of his brother as a preface to the letters. Later editions of these letters were edited by

Walter Hooper Walter McGehee Hooper (March 27, 1931December 7, 2020) was an American writer and literary advisor of the estate of C.S. Lewis. He was a literary trustee for Owen Barfield from December 1997 to October 2006. Life Hooper was born in Reidsville, No ...

. Before his death, Warren deposited many of the Lewis family papers in the Marion E. Wade Collection of Wheaton College, including surviving papers of C. S. Lewis and himself. In 1982, selections from Warren Lewis's diary were published under the title ''Brothers and Friends''.

Personal life

Warren Lewis renewed his

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

faith beginning in May 1931. He was a frequent participant in weekly meetings of the

and recorded comments about them in many of his diary entries. During the 1930s, the Lewis brothers undertook eight annual walking tours of as many as 50 miles (80 km), which Warren years later recalled with fondness, saying, "And jolly good fun they were too." According to C. S. Lewis's letters to Arthur Greeves, Warren Lewis was an alcoholic. Warren Lewis was buried in the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church,

Headington, Oxford Headington is an eastern suburb of Oxford, England. It is at the top of Headington Hill overlooking the city in the Thames valley below, and bordering Marston to the north-west, Cowley to the south, and Barton and Risinghurst to the east. Th ...

, where he is interred in his brother's grave.

Publications

* ''The Lewis Papers: Memoirs of the Lewis Family''. Printed privately in 1933. * "The Galleys of France." In ''Essays Presented to Charles Williams''. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 1947. * ''The Splendid Century: Some Aspects of French Life in the Reign of Louis XIV.'' Eyre & Spottiswoode. London. 1953. * ''The Sunset of the Splendid Century: The Life and Times of Louis Auguste de Bourbon, Duc de Maine.'' Eyre & Spottiswoode. London. 1955. * ''Assault on Olympus: The Rise of the House of Gramont between 1604 and 1678.'' Andre Deutsch. London. 1958. * ''Louis XIV: An Informal Portrait.'' Andre Deutsch. London. 1959. * ''The Scandalous Regent: A Life of Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, and of his family.'' Andre Deutsch. London. 1961. * ''Levantine Adventurer: The Travels and Missions of the Chevalier d'Arvieux.'' Andre Deutsch. London. 1962. * ''Memoirs of the Duc de Saint-Simon.'' B. T. Batsford. London. 1964. * ''Letters of C. S. Lewis'' (as editor). Geoffrey Bles Ltd. London. 1966.

References

Sources

Diana Glyer Diana Pavlac Glyer (born 21 January 1956 in Aberdeen, Maryland) is an American author, speaker and teacher whose work centers on C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien and the Inklings. She teaches in the Honors College at Azusa Pacific University in Calif ...

. ''The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community''. Kent State University Press. Kent Ohio. 2007. *

Joel D. Heck Joel D. Heck (born 1 October 1948) is a retired pastor and professor, formerly Executive Editor of Concordia University Press. He is the author or editing, editor of sixteen books, most recently publishing ''No Ordinary People: Twenty-One Friends ...

. ''Warren Hamilton Lewis: His Brother’s Brother.'' The Chronicle of the Oxford University C. S. Lewis Society, Vol. 6, No. 3 (2009):3-22. *

Clyde S. Kilby Clyde Samuel Kilby (26 September 1902, in Johnson City, Tennessee – 18 October 1986, in Columbus, Mississippi) was an American writer and English professor, best known for his scholarship on the Inklings, especially J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lew ...

and Marjorie Lamp Mead. ''Brothers and Friends: The Diaries of Major Warren Hamilton Lewis''. Harper & Row Publishers. San Francisco. 1982. * Warren H. Lewis. ''The Lewis Papers: Memoirs of the Lewis Family ''. Unpublished manuscripts housed in the Marion E. Wade Center. Wheaton, Illinois. * John Smyth. ''Sandhurst: The History of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst 1741–1961''. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1961. * Hugh Thomas. ''The Story of Sandhurst''. London: Hutchinson & Co., 1961. * A. N. Wilson, ''C. S. Lewis: A Biography''. W. W. Norton, 1990. ISBN *

External links

* (chiefly as 'Lewis, W. H. (Warren Hamilton), 1895–' without '1973', see previous page of browse report) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lewis, Warren 1895 births 1973 deaths Military personnel from Belfast Burials in Oxfordshire British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II Converts to Christianity Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst Writers from Belfast People educated at Malvern College Royal Army Service Corps officers Historians from Northern Ireland Inklings 20th-century English historians