Miss Gladys Evelyn Warren

Gladys was the Editress of 'The Whitwar'. She created the magazine in 1903 when she was just 12 years old.

She was passionate and wholey committed to supporting the poor and sick on the Little Folks ward of the North Eastern Hospital for Children, that being the purpose of her magazine. Quite how she came up with the idea of raising funds and securing material niceties for the children I will never know; her idea to create blanket knitting and judging the 'best toy' competitions so that her readers would send in their entries (resulting in donations to the hospital) was quite something!

A prolific writer, craft-maker and competition entrant

As well as having her own publication, she was a great contributor to other benevolent endeavours working with the same aim of helping sick and poor children. She was an early subscriber (number 67) and frequent entrant to competitions run in The Children's Salon section of The Gentlewoman magazine (click here to read) between at least 1906 and 1911. She was awarded medals for piano and literature by H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, in 1912 and also around that time is known to have had articles published in some of the most widely circulated magazines of the time, including: The Windsor The Lady The Gentlewoman

We don't know how many issues of the Whitwar were produced or exactly how long it lasted; the last mention we found of it in newspaper archives was from 1908 where it was noted that it was now a bi-annual production, instead of quartley as it had started five years before. By this time Gladys would have been around 17 years old. Early life Gladys was born on Christmas Day, 1891 and was registered in Barton Regis, Gloucestershire, England. She was the daughter of Algernon Warren and Rowena Minlan (nee Coates). She was baptised on 25 April 1892 at St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. The family, at that time, had been living at 6 Windsor Terrace, Clifton, and her father was employed as a merchant.

Gladys’ literary endeavours were undoubtedly influenced by her family. They had come from South Wales, moving through Bristol to London over the course of a couple of generations.

In his retirement from business, her father Algernon Warren, had authored ‘Commercial knowledge, a manual of business methods and transactions (1901) which was followed by Commercial travelling, its features, past and present (1904). It was whilst he was writing his second book that Gladys embarked on the ‘Whitwar’ project.

Her uncle, Sir Herbert Warren KCVO, held the post of President of Magdalen College, Oxford from 1885 to 1928. Sir Herbert was a regular contributor and reviewer of books for ‘The Spectator’ – a weekly magazine that began in 1828 and still in publication today. Algernon was also said to be an ‘old friend and supporter of that paper and an occasional contributor’.

Some references to Gladys in newspapers and magazines

Western Daily Press from Bristol, Avon, 13 June 1907

The Gentlewoman, 18 April 1908

"The Whitwar" (Editor, Gladys Evelyn Warren) - A charming magazine containing a variety of interesting and humorous matter, a sprinkling of verse and capital "Debate" pages, in which its readers ought to revel.

The Gentlewoman, 22 August 1908

The Western Daily Press, 7 July 1910
At the annual 'At Home' of the so-called "Children's Salon" )not a few of the members are between twenty and thirty years of age) held at the Connaught Rooms, Great Queen Street, Kingsway, London on Saturday, last, under the auspices of the 'Gentlewoman' the bronze medal for the best piece of embroidery sent in during the past six months, was awarded to Miss Gladys Evelyn Warren, daughter of Mr Algernon Warren, formerly of Bristol, and niece of the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford. The Western Daily Press, 12 April 1912
Items of local news.
The current issue of 'The Lady' contains an interesting little article on 'Signets and Seals' by Miss Gladys Evelyn Warren, daughter of one of our former fellow-citizens, Mr Algernon Warren. The contribution includes a reference to the round seal belonging to Bristol Cathedral. The Western Daily Press, 29 November 1912
Miss Gladys Evelyn Warren, daughter of Mr Algernon Warren, formerly of Bristol, has won a medal for Piano and also one for Literature ) awarded to those gaining over 80 marks out of 100) , at the Olympic Game Tests arranged by the Lady Rachel Byng, in connection with her Society of Eager Hearts and Fairy Godmothers, which helps to brighten the lives of the poor children in the East End of London. The medals are to be presented by H.R.H. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, at the Fairy Godmother Bazaar, to be held at the Ritz Hotel on Saturday next. Clifton and Redland Free Press, 7 November 1913
Miss Gladys Evelyn Warren, daughter of Mr Algernon Warren, formerly of Bristol, has an article in the Windsor Magazine. It is entitled " Famous Fools". (This was also mentioned in the Oxford Chronicle and Reading Gazette, the West Sussex Gazette, The Horfield and Bishopston Record and Montepelier & District Free Press, The South Bristol Free Press and Bedminster, Knowle & Brislington Record, and the Edinburgh Evening News).
Click here to read more about Gladys' entries (and her feedback) in Children's Salon competitions. Census information 1901 Census Address: 17 Wellbeck Mansions, Hampstead, London.

1911 Census

Address: 65 Springfield Rd, St Marylebone, London.

Plus two domestic servants (cook and housemaid).

1921 Census

Address: 65 Springfield Rd, St Marylebone, London.

1931 Electoral Register

19 Queens Gate Terrace, Kensington and Chelsea.

1939 Census

16 Woodstock Road, Chiswick: living with her mother (then widowed), single, employed as a part-time (visiting) teacher

1948 Electoral Register

118 Cramer Court, Kensington and Chelsea.