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Son of William and Maria Warr. Born Bridport, Dorset, England. A butcher. Enlisted into the British Army at Bristol on 27th June 1903. joining as a Gunner (No.31652) the Royal Field Artillery and being posted to No.2 Depot. Posted to the 26th Field Battery on 9th July 1903, he was appointed to Acting Bombardier on 18th August 1904, and saw service in South Africa from 16th December 1905, and would remain out there through to the outbreak of the Great War. Promoted to Bombardier on 21st June 1907, and to Corporal on 9th November 1908, and then transferred whilst out in South Africa to the 97th Field Battery on 17th November 1909. Having been transferred to the Army Reserve on 23rd October 1910, he decided to remain out in South Africa where he settled. Warr went to work as a butcher for the Gunter Bros family butchers in Bloemfontein. Warr was then mobilised on 16th August 1914 whilst out in South Africa due to the outbreak of the Great War, and having been posted back to England on 20th September 1914, was promoted to Sergeant with the 106th Field Battery on 24th September 1914, and saw service out on the Western Front from 6th October 1914. Warr then found himself demoted to Corporal and embroiled in the First Battle of Ypres and it was during the action at Zandvoorde near Gheluvelt on 30th October 1914 that he won the Distinguished Conduct Medal. Warr was almost immediately promoted back to Sergeant, and he was then decorated with the Imperial Russian Cross of Saint George 4th Class, quite possibly awarded for the same action, this award being gazetted after he had been commissioned, with the award being published in the London Gazette for 25th August 1915. Warr's award of the Distinguished Conduct Medal was one of the very first awards for the Great War, and information supplied amongst the research is that it was presented to him by King George V during a visit to the Western Front in 1914. Warr was then commissioned as a Second Lieutenant into the Royal Field Artillery on 12th April 1915. Warr married in England in 1915 and in November 1915 was promoted to Lieutenant. He then returned to the Western Front and rejoined the 106th Field Battery, 22nd Brigade, and was killed the first day of the Battle of the Somme. He had apparently been recommended for the award of the Military Cross some time just prior to this, and at the time there was some confusion as to whether the award was made or not. ref. South African Roll of Honour 1914-1918, possibly M C |
