Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 59.djvu/410

 almost exterminated by the natives two years later.

Warner died on 10 March 1648–9, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Thomas, Middle Island, St. Kitts. On a broken tomb under a coat of arms is a barely legible rhymed epitaph in which he is described as   one that bought With loss of Noble bloud Illustrious Name Of a Commander Greate in Acts of Fame. It is printed in Captain Laurence-Archer's ‘Monumental Inscriptions of the British West Indies’ and in ‘Notes and Queries’ (3rd ser. ix. 450). He was a good soldier, and ‘a man of extraordinary agillity of body and a good witt,’ and won the respect of all his subordinates.

He was thrice married: first, to Sarah, daughter of Walter Snelling of Dorchester; secondly, to Rebecca, daughter of Thomas Payne, of Surrey; and, thirdly, to a lady who afterwards married Sir George March (Cal. State Papers, Amer. and W. Indies, 1675–6, p. 321). By his second wife he had two sons, and a daughter who was buried at Putney on 29 Dec. 1635.

The eldest son, (fl. 1632–1640), was deputy-governor of St. Kitts when Sir Thomas went to England. He was made by his father in 1632 the first English governor of Antigua. His wife and two children were carried off from the island in an incursion of the Caribs in 1640. A local tradition, embodied in the ‘Legend of Ding a Dong Nook,’ said that the governor pursued the Caribs to Dominica and brought back his wife and one child, but afterwards, under the influence of jealousy, imprisoned her in a keep built for the purpose in a lonely nook. The date of Edward Warner's death is uncertain. Dutertre, in his ‘Histoire des Antilles,’ speaks highly of his personal qualities.

(1630?–1675), governor of Dominica, was a natural son of Sir Thomas Warner by a Carib woman (whom Labat saw in Dominica in January 1700, and described as then ‘une des plus vieilles créatures du monde’); he is known in West Indian history as ‘Indian Warner.’ About 1645, at the age of fifteen, he escaped from St. Kitts to his Carib countrymen in Dominica, among whom he soon took a leading position. He led their expeditions, indifferent apparently whether they were directed against the French or English. But having in some way obtained the favour of Francis, lord Willoughby [q. v.] of Parham, he was in 1664 made governor of Dominica. During the next two years he turned his activities against the French in Martinique and Guadeloupe, who eventually captured him. He was sent to Guadeloupe and kept in irons till after the peace, and was only released on 26 Dec. 1667 in consequence of the personal interposition of William, lord Willoughby. The French had contended that he was not included in the treaty with England, as ‘having never lived as a Christian but as a Caribee.’ By Warner's mediation a peace with the Caribs of Dominica and St. Vincent was concluded in 1667 (, Hist. of Barbados, pp. 292, 293). He continued to act as governor of Dominica, where he was practically omnipotent, but the description of him as ‘chief Indian governor’ seems to indicate that his position was not exactly official (Cal. State Papers, Amer. and W.Indies, 1669–74, pp. 226, 330), but in May 1673 it was confirmed by the council of Barbados. His instructions were so drawn as to conciliate the French (ib. p. 494), which lends colour to the subsequent charge made against Warner of intrigues with the French. In spite of his position he appears never to have ceased attacking the English on the other islands. In December 1674 an expedition started from Antigua against the Indians in Dominica. It was commanded by the governor, Colonel Philip Warner (see below), reputed brother of Thomas Warner. On their landing ‘Indian Warner’ received them well and gave them assistance against the Windward Indians. According to some authorities, ‘Indian Warner’ was treacherously killed by his brother's own hand during a banquet on board his sloop; according to others, he fell on shore in open fight with the English.

(d. 1689), another son of Sir Thomas Warner, commanded a regiment of foot at the taking of Cayenne from the French in 1667, and in the same year served at the capture of Surinam from the Dutch (cf. Antigua and the Antiguans, 1844, cp. iii.). In 1671 he was in command of a regiment of nine hundred English in Antigua, and in the following year he was appointed governor of that island. His term of office was marked by the introduction of several useful reforms. In December 1674 he led the expedition to Dominica, and was accused of having directed his half-brother Thomas's murder. He was sent to England and imprisoned for several months in the Tower. On 23 June 1675 Secretary Coventry wrote to the governor of Barbados that his majesty was ‘highly offended’ at ‘that barbarous murder or rather massacre,’ and ordered that ‘speedy and exemplary justice should be done;’ while the Indians were to be