Fabian Ware

Fabian Ware

Major-General Sir Fabian Arthur Goulstone Ware KCVO KBE CB CMG was a British educator, journalist, and the founder of the Imperial War Graves Commission. He also served as Director of Education for the Transvaal Colony and editor of The Morning Post. Ware died in 1948 and died the following year at the age of 83. He is buried at St Pancras Cathedral in London.

About Fabian Ware in brief

Summary Fabian WareMajor-General Sir Fabian Arthur Goulstone Ware KCVO KBE CB CMG was a British educator, journalist, and the founder of the Imperial War Graves Commission. He also served as Director of Education for the Transvaal Colony and editor of The Morning Post. Ware was born in Clifton, Bristol, on 17 June 1869 to Charles and Amy Carew Ware. He graduated from the University of Paris with a Bachelor of Science in 1894. He worked as an assistant schoolmaster from 1889 to 1899; the last four years at the Bradford Grammar School. He married Anna Margaret on 1 August 1895; they had a daughter and a son. Ware died in 1948 and died the following year at the age of 83. He was buried at St Pancras Cathedral in London. He is buried at the St Pancreas Anglican Church in London, alongside his wife Anna Margaret and their two children, a son and a daughter, and his daughter’s mother. He died of natural causes on 11 June 1949. He had a son, John, who was born on 17 July 1869 in Bristol, and died on 11 July 1951 in St Pancrase, London, aged 83. Ware is buried in the same place as his wife, Anna Margaret, and their son, James Nicol-in-Chief, who died on 13 July 1951. Ware’s daughter, Mary, was married to Lord Borthwick, who later became the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, until his death in 1964. Ware also had two sons, John and James. He served as a member of Milner’s Kindergarten, a group of young Britons later known as Milner’s Kindergarden.

He later became editor of the Morning Post, which he expanded and reoriented to focus on colonial affairs. In 1903 Ware became acting director of education in the TransVAal Colony. As director, he advocated the creation of a de-centralised education system with responsibility largely in the hands of local authorities. In 1914 he was appointed commander of a mobile ambulance unit provided by the British Red Cross Society. In this role he began marking and recording the graves of those killed. The unit soon began to focus exclusively on graves and the organisation was transferred to the British Army in 1915. The following year the Army Department of Graves Registration and Enquiries was created with Ware at its head. On 21 May 1917 the Imperial war Graves Commission was founded. Ware served as vice-chairman of the IWGC and was re-appointed director-general of Graves registration and enquiries. He retired from the Commission in 1948. He ended the war as a major-general, having been mentioned in despatches twice. Ware frequently led negotiations with foreign nations over cemeteries and memorials, and dealt with prominent figures in the commission, and worked to ensure the commission’s financial security. In the lead-up to the Second World War, he attempted to use the IwGC’s work as a tool for ensuring peace.