Edward Lionel Warren 1909 – 1973
My father was a publicly honoured man. He was awarded medals for war experience, and letters of commendation from Churchill. His funeral was attended by representatives of Trinity House. An island was named after him in the Antarctic.
My experience of him at home as his baby daughter was very different. When I was a baby he nearly battered me to death. I was left unconscious by both my parents for several hours and nearly died.
The purpose of this blog is to bring together my father’s public persona and violent behaviour within the family, and to set the record straight.
THE DISCOVERY INVESTIGATIONS
My father took part in The Discovery Investigations of Antarctica. They were a series of scientific investigations into the biology of whales in the southern ocean, undertaken between 1925 and 1951.They were founded by the British Colonial office and organised by the Discovery Committee in London, which was formed in 1918.They were intended to provide the scientific background to stock management of the commercial Antarctic whale fishery. The work of the Investigations contributed hugely to our knowledge of the whales themselves, (their migration, feeding patterns, breeding frequency, nursing and rearing periods), the krill they fed on, and on the oceanography of their habitat, while charting the local topography.
The Investigations were periodically conducted on board three research vessels:
RRS Discovery, R.R.S. William Scoresby, and R.R.S.Discovery 11.
The RRS William Scoresby made seven voyages into Antarctic waters as part of the Discovery Investigations. During this time she marked about 3,000 whales and completed biological, hydrographical and oceanographic studies.
In the 1935 -1936 season the men did more than assist exploration by others; they made a significant contribution to geographic knowledge with the discovery of Edward V111 Gulf and other charting work along the largely unknown coasts of Enderby and Kemp Lands.The work of the William Scoresby and the other Discovery Committee ships did not stop the wholesale slaughter and destruction of many whaling stocks, but the ships played a major part in increasing our knowledge of the world’s oceans and paved the way for later conservation measures.
My father’s personal notebooks from his time in Antarctica strongly suggest that whilst the ship was lost, and locked into pack ice for several months he had a psychotic episode, which saw him communicate with the devil. This suggests an inner experience which is in stark contrast to his public personae.
WAR TIME ACTIVITIES
Edward Lionel Warren was 2nd Officer of the Hardwicke Grange ship, in the 2nd World War.
On Friday 23rd April 1943 The London Gazette reports:
“12 th June 1942. Hardwicke Grange torpedoed twice by U-boat 129. The ship was torpedoed and sustained severe damage. Orders were given for abandonment, and distress messages were sent out. Two more torpedoes hit the ship which sank rapidly. 2nd Officer Edward Lionel Warren was in charge of one of the lifeboats which made a successful voyage of 10 days before being picked up. It was due to his courage, skill and leadership that 13 survivors were brought to safety.”
For this he was awarded the Kings Commendation, and received a personally written letter from Churchill.
He became a Pilot and Captain for Trinity House, Gravesend, Kent in 1945. Trinity House is an official sea pilotage authority, and leader in expert safety, providing navigators for ships since 1514.
He died in Gravesend, 1973. The funeral was attended by senior officials from Trinity House, and Senior Wardens of the Freemasons.
To those he met in his work and public life Edward Lionel Warren came across as a nice and charming man. Privately, and in his home life, it was a very different story. His wife and family experienced a man who perpetrated violence on a regular basis
EDWARD LIONEL WARREN – THE PRIVATE MAN
What follows is an account of my childhood with Edward Lionel Warren as his daughter. Experiencing my father’s violence started as a baby, when, in a fit of rage he violently threw my mother down the stairs. I watched this, and, minutes later, my father was staring down at me with a murderous look in his eyes. Even though I was very small, I instinctively knew what he was going to do. He battered and thumped my head until I was unconscious. Both parents left me in this state risking my death. I woke up screaming in pain, alone in my cot.
There was a further incidence of violence when I was about one year old. My father was leaving my mother, and he attempted to abduct me. He was in a manic state and as he tried to leave the house with me my parents fought over me physically. They pulled me from one to the other, and I remember screaming as they shouted at each other.
My father wasn’t successful in taking me with him, but my parents did separate and he left home. After this, my father started stalking the house. I remember hearing noises outside the house on dark evenings – a step on the path, and a tap or scraping noise on the lounge window. My father’s face would then appear staring in through a gap in the curtains. This would make my mother go to the front door and open it upon which he would start hitting and punching her, and forcing his way in.
This stalking behaviour went on throughout my childhood.
On several occasions my father would hide in the darkness, and deliberately rustle trees and bushes to scare me and my mother. For the same reason he also banged dustbin lids in the middle of the night. Moreover, he broke into the house during the night and took things.
My father also had a psychotic episode in front of me when I was about seven years old. He went down on his knees, and started crying. He was holding a crucifix in his hands, which he then put around my neck. He told me my mother was evil, and I needed protection.
DEVIL WEARS HARRIS TWEAD
He holds up a crucifix,
To the “unwanted, the mistake –
To protect,
From the mothers evilness” ..
He goes down down on his knees
…
Didn’t know the devil shed tears
Still aged seven while out with my father we encountered a swan. I stroked it, whilst he walked off. It then began to spit, lunge and bite me. Frightened by this I ran, and the swan gave chase. I heard my father laugh loudly, turned and saw the expression in his eyes. I was shocked to see, he was enjoying my distress.
SWAN
From a distance he watches..
A gentle stroke,
It strikes out
Bites
Spits
Lunges,
Gives chase,
Hisses
…
That look in your eyes..
Your loud laugh,
Devil’s spawn
When I was about seven or eight, my father was teaching me to swim. I remember his rough, hard, heavy hands grabbing and hurting me. Whilst on holiday in Wales, I nearly drowned. As a professional seaman he knew that there was a dangerous strong cross-current tide. The sea was visibly rough with high waves, yet he left me alone as he swam out further. I was then swept under by the waves, and turned several times under water, nearly drowning. My eyes were open under the water, and I was in shock. I was finally swept onto the beach with my father nowhere to be seen.
WHERE WERE YOU ?
The wave throws me up
And under
Rolling
Over
Rolling
Under, and over
Scraping the seabed
Tossing
Over
Under,
Under
Over
And like trash
Dumps me
At the sea’s edge,
Alone
On an outing to the Dymchurch miniature railway, I remember taking a photo of my father standing by the engine. I was shocked to see there was a look of deathly hate in his eyes, as he faced the camera.This was a pattern of how my father looked and related to me throughout my childhood, starting with his attempt to murder me as a baby.
When I was aged about nine, my father stalked me to the playing fields. He told me that my mother was evil and that I was unplanned and unwanted; a mistake. He added that my mother agreed. To my surprise I shouted at him to leave me alone, and then walked off. This was the only time in my entire life that I was able to speak up to my father. However, after this, his aggressive stalking behaviour increased.
When I was about nine or ten my father moved to the top of the road with his new wife. We often saw them walk up and down outside our house. This made my mother decide to give up her job, and move us to another town. She never managed to secure permanent employment until many years later. We went through periods of homelessness and our lives were unstable. However, my father still managed to trace us and frequently stalk places in the dark we lived in, as well as stalking me from school. After I left school at sixteen I moved to Canterbury. He took it upon himself to contact my place of employment. One day my father turned up there, and spoke to my manager, asking him to call me so that I was forced to speak to my father. This same manager later sexually assaulted me.
My father continued to stalk me in Canterbury on several occasions.
On reflection it seems to me my father suffered from severe psychosis all his life. As it was never treated it then came out at me.
THE HIGH COURT
In 1962 my parents got divorced and their case went to the High Court. The judge, a QC, was later to become a vice chancellor of the Chancery Division.
He was a Freemason.
I remember being called in and interviewed as a child by this judge.
My mother’s barrister Victor Mischon, told her after the divorce that he thought it highly likely that my father had walked away from the High Court a free man, because he and the judge were both Freemasons.
THE FATHER – FREEMASON
Some years ago I tried to get the name of Warren Island changed, as I felt that in view of his private behaviour my father did not warrant an island named after him. However, my attempts were ignored by Trinity House, and refused by the Australian Antarctic Division committee. I also contacted the Medal Office with regard to removing his medals. This was also ignored. In addition I wrote to the then Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling, seeking an apology for the judicial decision that failed to take into account my father’s violent behaviour at my parents divorce.
I feel I’ve come up against a wall of silence. It’s as though my father, having been a Freemason, is still being protected.
All the above is about my father, but it’s important for me to convey my mother played a part as well. When my father nearly battered me to death as a baby my mother looked on and watched. When I lay unconscious she left me for dead.
As I grew up she was physically violent to me herself. On one occasion she smashed my teeth on the enamel kitchen sink. This resulted in my losing several bottom teeth.
THE MOTHER
You did to me
What you did to that doll,
Broke it’s head.
No remorse
Just this constant barrage
Until the sawdust fell out
Drip,
Dripping
onto the floor
My mother also damaged me psychologically. She practised mind control by insisting my thoughts and feelings were not my own, and forcing me to take on hers instead. In addition, she also constantly manipulated me through self pity, and there were icy, sadistic silences that went on for days and weeks after I’d seen my father. She also subjected me to constant criticism and persecution as I grew up. This continued until my early 30s.
Moreover, she told me I was unwanted – a mistake.
All in all, the accumulative effect of this was that my spirit and soul were broken from when I was a baby.
In recent years, my brother has tried to silence me when I began to speak out, thus perpetrating this cycle of coercive silence. I then realized I had to walk away and cut all contact. Since then, I have started to find my own voice, in what has been a very dark, and long journey.
I would like to thank Dr Birgit Heuer for all the invaluable help she has given me throughout the years.
Breaking Child Abuse Silence 