Charles Warren is Born

Today in Masonic History Charles Warren is born in 1840.

Charles Warren was a British solider and civil servant.

Warren was born February 7, 1840 in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales.

From 1857 to 1885 Warren served in the Royal Engineers. His first big assignment was on Gibraltar surveying the Rock of Gibraltar. From this he created two 8 meter long models of Gibraltar including buildings and the ports.

In 1867 Warren was recruited by Palestine Exploration Fund, a British organization dedicated to surveying Ottoman Palestine. Warren was tasked with performing Biblical archeology with a view to further research and excavation. As part of his duties he excavate at the Temple Mount and ushered in a new age of Biblical archeology.

In 1882, Warren was called by the Admiralty to investigate a missing expedition. The Palmer Expedition was in the Sinai conducting biblical research and had disappeared. Warren was able to determine the expedition had been attacked, robbed and the members of the expedition murdered. He was also able to track down the murderers. For this he was knighted with the Knight Commander of St. Michael and St. George (British), created a third class Medjidie (Egypt) and was made a Knight of Justice of the Order of St. John (French). In 1884 he was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1886, after failing to be elected to parliament the year before, Warren was appointed as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (the Head of the London Police). Two years later the Jack the Ripper case began. During this time Warren was criticized constantly by the press for his handling of the case. In one instance he was criticized for not using bloodhounds and then when he ordered the use of bloodhounds, the press accused him of being obsessed with them.

Eventually Warren had enough of the press and resigned his post in November 1888, right before the Mary Jane Kelly murder. Prior to his resignation he had ordered his officers, if another murder were to occur, no one was to enter the scene until he arrived. Some see this as a strange order since all of the previous victims were found on the street. Kelly's body was found in a room. News of Warren's resignation had not reached the officers who arrived at the scene of Kelly's murder and waited three hours before entering the scene.

In 1889 Warren returned to the military and was stationed in Singapore and remained there until 1894.

Warren passed away on January 21st, 1927.

Warren was the founding master of Quatuor Coronati Lodge, a lodge dedicated to research. He also became the third District Grand Master of the Eastern Archipelago in Singapore.

This article provided by Brother Eric C. Steele.