Ottery St Mary Church

Born in Ottery St Mary in 1814, William Robert Warren was the son of Rev John Warren D.D. and Frances Stribling Hicks (1779-1863).

Frances Hicks was born in Exeter. Her father was a builder in partnership with her mother's brother, Robert Cornish. Frances's cousin, Rev Sidney William Cornish (1801-1874) was headmaster of Ottery St Mary Free Grammar School from 1824-1863, and Vicar of Ottery from 1841 until his death.

Rev John Warren, born in Ottery in 1782, was a pupil at the King's School there. From 1801 he studied at Oriel College, Oxford. In 1808 he returned to The King’s School as headmaster-cum-curate for over 30 years.

In 1841 he became Vicar of Heavitree in Exeter and in 1844 he was appointed Rector of Bawdrip in Somerset.

Frances Hicks and Rev John Warren were married in Exeter in 1811. He died in 1847 in Heavitree.

Of their eight children, five predeceased him. The remaining three were their sons John (1814-1886), for many years also Rector of Bawdrip, Robert Hicks, (1819-1854) an attorney in Ottery, and William Robert who became the surgeon in Bow.