Charles Warne


Charles Warne was an English antiquarian and archæologist who specialised in the prehistoric and ancient monuments of Dorset.

Life

Born in Dorset, with the poet William Barnes he was involved in protecting the Maumbury Rings which resulted in their statutory protection from the route of the proposed Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth Railway Act of 1845. This was the first time an antiquity was saved from being damaged by a proposed train route as a result of the actions of local protestors. He became a close friend of Charles Roach Smith and in 1853 and 1854 he made archaeological tours in France with Smith and Frederick William Fairholt.
Warne published accounts of his archaeological discoveries between 1836 and 1872 many of which were based on his own research and fieldwork. Elected as a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1856, Warne was then and for some time afterwards a resident of London. He made researches into the prehistoric remains of Dorset. Then for a long time he lived at Ewell, Surrey; the last years of his life were spent at Brighton, where he died on 11 April 1887.

Legacy

During his lifetime Warne amassed a large collection of English and Roman coins part of which was sold by Messrs. Sotheby, Wilkinson, & Hodge, on 24 and 25 May 1889, two years after his death. Warne's collection of sepulchral urns and other relics from barrows went to Dorchester Museum.
His grave in Brookwood Cemetery is designed to resemble a prehistoric barrow with the upright stone being made from serpentinite.

Works

Warne's works were:
Warne also contributed "Observations on Vespasian's first Campaign in Britain" to Archæologia, and "Archæological Notes made during a Tour in France" to Charles Roach Smith's Retrospections.