Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 59.djvu/306

  College on 11 May 1604, he graduated B.A. on 22 Nov. 1606. On 27 Jan. 1606–7 he was admitted student at Lincoln's Inn, where he was called to the bar in 1612. He was one of the commissioners appointed on 1 Feb. 1640–1 for the levy in Cheshire of the first two subsidies granted by the Long parliament, and on 6 Nov. 1645 was added to the committee of accounts. Parliament also appointed him on 22 Feb. 1646–7 justice of the court of session of Cheshire and of the great sessions of the counties of Montgomery, Denbigh, and Flint, and advanced him on 12 June 1649 to a puisne judgeship in the court of common pleas, having first (9 June) caused him to be invested with the coif. He was a member of the special commission which on 24 Oct. following tried [q. v.] On 14 March 1654–5 he was joined with Sir George Booth and Sir William Brereton in the militia commission for Cheshire. Soon afterwards he was transferred from the court of common pleas to the upper bench, in which he sat with Lord-chief-justice Glynne on the trial (9 Feb. 1656–7) of [q. v.] Though pardoned on the Restoration, he was not confirmed by a new call in the status of serjeant-at-law. He died on 28 Feb. 1665–6, and was buried in the church of Fetcham, Surrey. By his wife Alice, daughter of John Gardener of Kimbleton, Worcestershire, he left issue a son Robert.



WARBURTON, PETER EGERTON (1813–1889), Australian explorer, fourth son of the Rev. Rowland Egerton Warburton of Arley Hall, Northwich, Cheshire, and younger brother of [q. v.], was born at Arley Hall on 15 Aug. 1813, and, after being educated at Orleans and Paris, entered the navy in 1825. Having served over three years, he decided to go into the army, and entered at Addiscombe in 1829; he became an ensign in the Bombay army on 9 June 1831, and, after service in India, was promoted to be lieutenant on 18 July 1837, and captain on 24 Jan. 1845. He served as deputy adjutant-general for some time, and in 1853 retired with the brevet rank of major, with a view to settling in New Zealand as a colonist. Ultimately he chose South Australia instead, arriving in Adelaide in September of that year. Almost at once Warburton was appointed commissioner of police for South Australia. This office led him into all parts of the colony, and he utilised his opportunities of casual exploration in little-known districts. In 1867 he resigned his post, and in 1869 became commandant of the volunteer forces.

In 1872 Warburton was selected by the government of South Australia to command a projected exploring expedition intended to open up an overland communication between that colony and Western Australia. When the project was abandoned by the government and taken up by two public-spirited colonists, Thomas Elder and Walter Hughes, Warburton was placed by them in command. He left Adelaide on 21 Sept. 1872, and Beltana station on the 26th, travelling first northward. The special feature of this expedition was the extensive use made of the camel. Having arrived at Alice Springs on 21 Dec. 1872, he found the country suffering from drought, and decided to wait there for the rains; but he was disappointed. Starting westward for the serious work of his expedition on 15 April 1873, he was in trouble for want of water on the 20th, and from that time he was never for long free from anxiety. Striking out for the rivers Hugh and Finke in the direction of their supposed courses, he found that they were wrongly mapped. He reached Central Mount Wedge on 8 May, and soon afterwards Table Mountain. From 2 to 9 June he was going back on his tracks, and about this time lost four camels. He was now in a regular desert. About 20 Aug. he had reached Gregory's farthest point. In September the troubles due to lack of water and loss of camels were becoming very serious; the party was literally hunting the natives to discover their wells. In October things got worse; they made a long halt at some native wells so as to recoup and make reconnaissances, but in vain. For three weeks they subsisted on a single camel; ants were a perfect plague. On 12 Nov. Warburton was worn out by starvation, and thought he had only a few hours to live; he had lost the sight of one eye. A fortunate find by one of their boys relieved them; but