Warren was born in
Newton Abbot, England, and from age thirteen was working in the mining business. He had experience in the
east county mines including
Dolcoath and
Tavistock and later in America. He was in
South Australia by October 1864, when in response to a newspaper advertisement, he succeeded George Vercoe as manager of the Karkarilla mine, Tipara, one of the complex of copper mines at
Moonta. The Karkarilla mine became uneconomic and was taken over by another company in 1867 and renamed Hamley, and Warren, while being retained, was also made responsible for the nearby
Paramatta mine, and 1869 the Wheal James mine. He resigned from the Paramatta company on 25 November 1876, and for two and a half years was in charge of the
Balade mine,
New Caledonia. He returned to South Australia, where he served as manager of the short-lived
Bird-in-Hand gold mine near
Woodside. A strike called by the Amalgamated Miners' Association and other unions in Broken Hill was held ?? – November 1892 after the Mineowners' Association cancelled
stope workers' contracts and imposed a contract payment system. Warren held fast against the unions by taking on new workers, mostly from
Moonta, and still meeting their production targets. In June 1901 Warren resigned from Block 10 after a dispute with assistant manager L. W. Grayson, who also resigned and set up in business as a consulting engineer. A petition signed by most employees of the mine urged Warren to reconsider. He must have relented, as he was reappointed to his old position in July. In 1902 he was both elected president of the
Australasian Institute of Mining Engineers and appointed
Justice of the Peace. In April he again resigned, after he had been obliged to effect a number of economies, including the termination of many jobs. His replacement was V. F. Stanley-Low. He was for a short time in 1903 manager of the Cobar-Chesney mine, and the Broken Hill Junction Mining Company for about a year 1904–05. ==Inventions==