Warren Lewis

Warren Hamilton Lewis (16 June 1895 – 9 April 1973) was an Irish historian and officer in the British Army, best known as the elder brother of writer and professor C. S. Lewis. Warren Lewis was a supply officer with the Royal Army Service Corps of the British Army during and after the First World War. After retiring in 1932 to live with his brother in Oxford, he was one of the founding members of the Inklings, 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". Their lifelong friendship was formed as the boys played together in their home on the outskirts of Belfast, Little Lea, writing and illustrating stories for their fantasy world of Boxen (a combination of India and a previous invention called Animal-Land). In 1908, their mother died from cancer 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, Hertfordshire, just northwest of London, where they suffered under a harsh, mentally ill 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, where his brother was also sent a few years later. Warren completed his education at Malvern in 1913. Military service On 10 September 1913, Warren Lewis began studying privately with William T. Kirkpatrick for four months in preparation for the entrance examination of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He finished 22nd of 201 candidates, winning him a prize cadetship, with which he entered the college 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 in the Royal Army Service Corps 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 on 24 September 1916.