90 Facts About Fabian Ware

Fabian Ware served as Director of Education for the Transvaal Colony and editor of The Morning Post.

Two years later, Fabian Ware became editor of The Morning Post and returned to England.

Fabian Ware ended the war as a major-general, having been mentioned in despatches twice.

Fabian Ware frequently led negotiations with foreign nations over cemeteries and memorials, dealt with prominent figures in the commission, and worked to ensure the commission's financial security.

Fabian Ware attempted to raise support for his ideal of cooperation between the Dominions.

Fabian Ware retired from the Commission in 1948 and died the following year.

Fabian Ware was born in Clifton, Bristol, on 17 June 1869 to Charles and Amy Carew Fabian Ware, Goulstone.

Fabian Ware was privately tutored until his father died when he was 18.

Fabian Ware then taught in private schools to pay for tuition at the University of London.

Dissatisfied with his education, Fabian Ware left the university and after saving enough money began attending the University of Paris, graduating with a Bachelor of Science in 1894.

Fabian Ware worked as an assistant schoolmaster from 1889 to 1899; the last four years at the Bradford Grammar School.

Fabian Ware married Anna Margaret on 1 August 1895; they had a daughter and a son.

Fabian Ware began contributing articles to The Morning Post in 1899.

Fabian Ware served as the representative of the Education Committee of the Royal British Commission at the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris and afterwards worked as an inspector of schools for the Board of Education.

In October 1901 Fabian Ware was appointed assistant director of education in the Transvaal by Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner, becoming a member of an informal group of young Britons later known as Milner's Kindergarten.

Fabian Ware moved to the Transvaal and stopped writing for The Morning Post.

On 17 June 1903 Fabian Ware was made a member of the Transvaal Legislative Council, and in July he became permanent director of education for the Transvaal.

Author Ernst Gideon Malherbe wrote that as a member of the council Fabian Ware was "probably the only South African Superintendent of Education that has represented education directly before the legislature".

When Fabian Ware became editor, The Morning Post had no offices.

Fabian Ware began expanding the paper by hiring Richard Jebb as a contributor, who in turn hired many other correspondents.

Fabian Ware aimed to make the paper "the authority on all colonial questions," and supported social and tariff reform.

Fabian Ware invited radicals such as William Beveridge and R H Tawney to contribute to the paper.

Shortly after beginning work, Fabian Ware came into conflict with Glenesk, who thought he should not promote tariff reform, and wrote asking Lord Glenesk's daughter, Lady Bathurst, to intervene and threatening to resign.

Lady Bathurst and Fabian Ware generally got along as they both held a political stance firmly to the right - though Fabian Ware's instincts for social reform were very strong.

Fabian Ware was involved in hiring Robbie Ross as an art editor for the paper in August 1908.

Fabian Ware rushed to ensure The Morning Posts airship arrived first, and by May 1910 he began helping plan the airship's route to England.

Fabian Ware became a special commissioner for Rio Tinto, negotiating with the French government.

Fabian Ware arrived in France and took command of the unit on 19 September 1914.

One of several Red Cross units in France, Fabian Ware's unit operated in northern France as a semi-autonomous command.

Fabian Ware had a degree of independence afforded by the Joint Finance Committee of St John Ambulance and the Red Cross, who gave Ware his own operating budget for three-month periods.

That month Fabian Ware visited an extension of the Bethune cemetery which had British graves not maintained and some not even recorded.

Fabian Ware soon convinced the Red Cross to fund durable grave markers.

Fabian Ware began to focus on searching for dead soldiers on battlefields in northern France.

In February 1915 the unit asked Reginald Brade to help ensure the unit's continuing work and Fabian Ware unsuccessfully applied for a pass from the provost marshal at St Omer to continue grave work.

Fabian Ware met with the Adjutant-General to the Forces, Nevil Macready, in mid-February 1915 to discuss the future of his work.

Fabian Ware initially divided the Commission into four regions with six men and four vehicles each, led by a headquarters of forty-four workers.

That spring Fabian Ware began serving as an intermediary between the French and British governments over grave-related matters.

Fabian Ware thus led negotiations between France and Britain beginning in March 1915, particularly with the French Grand Quartier General, Ministry of War and Ministry of the Interior.

Fabian Ware shepherded the bill through its passage, urging prominent British figures such as the adjutant-general and King George V to support it.

Fabian Ware was promoted to temporary lieutenant colonel on 11 February 1916 as a result of his increasing responsibility over grave-related matters as the war expanded to more fronts.

Fabian Ware competed with Sir Alfred Mond, the First Commissioner of Works, for responsibility over the graveyards.

Fabian Ware felt the scale of the war was so unprecedented a new organisation was needed to care for the graves and wanted to keep Mond out of the work.

Fabian Ware was made director of Graves Registration and Enquiries at the War Office on 15 May 1916, a post he held until the end of the war.

Only one-fifth of the typists Fabian Ware had requested initially arrived, but his staff eventually grew to around 700.

Efforts to neaten the cemeteries had begun in early 1916 when Fabian Ware invited Arthur William Hill, assistant director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, to tour the cemeteries and advise upon further planting efforts.

In September 1917 Fabian Ware was given authority to wear the insignia of a commander of the Belgian Ordre de la Couronne.

On 7October 1918 Fabian Ware was given the temporary rank of major-general as director-general of the DGRE.

In May 1917 architect Edwin Lutyens wrote to Fabian Ware, urging "great stone[s] of fine proportion twelve feet long set fair or finely wrought".

The proposal, supported by Fabian Ware, was criticised by figures such as Randall Davidson, the Archbishop of Canterbury, for its lack of religious motifs.

Fabian Ware told Lutyens he was "shocked" by the response and was considering giving the Office of Works responsibility for graves.

Fabian Ware suggested that his Great War Stones be used as the monument.

In late 1917 Fabian Ware began searching for a replacement to Aitken, who did not fully support Fabian Ware's vision for the commission.

Fabian Ware looked into establishing a 'Religious Advisory Committee' to help settle religious questions.

Fabian Ware received the Croix de Guerre and was made a commander of the Order of the Crown of Belgium.

On 1 March 1921 Fabian Ware relinquished his commission, leaving the army, and was granted the rank of honorary major-general.

Fabian Ware continued to work for the commission, undertaking negotiations with foreign nations and hiring further professionals.

In March 1920 Fabian Ware predicted there would be more than half a million graves in 1,200 cemeteries in France and Belgium.

Herbert Ellison managed most of the IWGC's business as Fabian Ware handled political issues.

Fabian Ware was considered one of the faces of the commission, and gave annual Remembrance Day addresses to the United Kingdom to urge against future wars.

Fabian Ware had a film made, gave lectures, and organised photographic exhibits about the IWGC's work.

In May and June 1919, Fabian Ware argued that the IWGC should be made independent of HM Treasury, which was observing the commission's finances, and this largely occurred after a meeting on 20 June.

Fabian Ware had unsuccessfully attempted to begin negotiations with Turkey in 1917, separately asking the Red Cross, the Catholic Church, and the United States to serve as intermediaries.

Fabian Ware travelled extensively after the war, visiting Canada, Egypt, India and Iraq, and Australia and New Zealand.

Fabian Ware worked with William Burdett-Coutts, an MP, to write statements urging Parliament to allow the IWGC to continue its work.

Upset, Lutyens and Fabian Ware unsuccessfully urged the RFAC to reconsider.

Fabian Ware worked to convince the Dominions to allow their soldiers' names to appear on the Menin Gate, as it was intended to be an imperial monument.

Fabian Ware began working to prevent formal opposition to the monuments from manifesting.

In July 1926, Fabian Ware proposed an Anglo-French cemetery at Thiepval.

Fabian Ware attended numerous monument dedications: in 1924 all three naval monuments; in 1927 the Menin Gate, Tyne Cot, and Neuve-Chapelle Indian Memorial; in 1928 the Mercantile Marine Memorial, Nieuport Memorial, Soissons Memorial, and La Ferte-sous-Jouarre memorial; and in 1930 the Le Touret Memorial.

Fabian Ware was present at the unveiling of Theipval on 1 August 1932.

The Treasury disliked the fund, but Fabian Ware considered it the commission's "only hope of permanency".

Around a month later the Treasury tried again and Fabian Ware convinced the prime minister of Canada to tell their high commissioner to the United Kingdom to resist any proposed changes by the Treasury without consulting other Commonwealth nations.

Work did not resume on the project until Fabian Ware travelled to Australia in 1935 to push for action from the government.

Fabian Ware, fearing unwanted reform from a Treasury investigation, arranged for the appointment of an investigative committee.

Fabian Ware published an account of the work of the IWGC in 1937 titled The Immortal Heritage.

Fabian Ware was given the authority to wear the insignia of a commander of the Legion of Honour on 27 December 1933 and the insignia of a grand master on 16 December 1938.

Fabian Ware served as a member of the Imperial Committee on Economic Consultation and Co-operation in 1932.

Fabian Ware was an honorary associate at the Royal Institute of British Architects, and a director of the journal Nineteenth Century and After.

Fabian Ware was an adviser at the 1937 Imperial Conference.

Fabian Ware served the county of Gloucestershire in various capacities, including as president of the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council from 1940 to 1948, chairman of the executive committee of the Parents' National Educational Union in 1939, and chairman of the Gloucestershire Branch of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England.

Fabian Ware travelled to Cologne in October 1936 and attended a conference of the German War Graves Commission.

Fabian Ware continued his efforts against war even as the Anschluss and the Munich Agreement occurred.

Fabian Ware spoke at the Volksbund's celebration in 1938, again advocating against war.

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Fabian Ware was recalled to serve as director-general of Graves Registration and Enquiries at the War Office on 30 August 1939.

Fabian Ware continued in his role as vice-chairman of the commission and facilitated cooperation between the organisations.

Fabian Ware wrote a letter to Winston Churchill saying the IWGC could not "omit to commemorate these [civilian casualties] if the higher purposes inspiring their work" were to continue to be respected, and the IWGC began recording civilian deaths "caused by enemy action" in January 1941.

Fabian Ware resigned as director-general of Graves Registration and Enquiries in 1944, leaving the army, to continue his work with the commission.

Fabian Ware toured cemeteries in France and Belgium in August 1945.

Fabian Ware resigned as vice-chairman of the Commission in 1948 due to old age and failing health, particularly his chronic phlebitis.

Fabian Ware died on 28 April 1949 in Barnwood House Hospital, Gloucester, and was buried in Holy Trinity Churchyard, Amberley on 2May.