Warren Lewis Warren Hamilton ( W . H . ) Lewis ( 16 June 1895 – 9 April 1973 ) was an Irish historian and officer in the British Army , best known as the brother of the author and professor C . S . Lewis . Warren Lewis was a supply officer with the Royal Army Service Corps of the British Army during and after the First World War . After retiring in 1932 to live with his brother in Oxford , he was one of the founding members of the " Inklings " , an informal Oxford literary society . He wrote on French history , and served as his brother ' s secretary for the later years of C . S . Lewis ' s life . Early life . C . S . Lewis referred to his older brother , Warren ( “ Warnie ” ) , as “ my dearest and closest friend . ” The lifelong friendship formed as the boys played together in their home , Little Lea , on the outskirts of Belfast , writing and illustrating stories for their created world called " Boxen " ( a combination of India and a previous incarnation called " Animal - Land " ) . In 1908 their mother died from cancer and as their father mourned her , C . S . ( " Jack " ) and Warren Lewis had only each other for comfort and support . Soon after their mother ' s death , Jack was sent across the channel to join Warren Lewis at an English boarding school named Wynyard in Watford , just northwest of London , where they both endured a harsh headmaster named Robert Capron . Warren had been taken there by his mother Flora on 10 May 1905 . In 1909 , Warren Lewis transferred to Malvern College in Worcestershire ( Mid - West England ) and was followed there by his brother a few years later . Warren Lewis completed his education at Malvern in 1913 . Military service . He had private studies with W . T . Kirkpatrick for four months in preparation for the army entrance exam , beginning on 10 September 1913 , and finished 21st among over 201 candidates taking the exam , entitling him to a " prize cadetship " , with which he entered the Royal Military College at Sandhurst on 4 February 1914 . This gave him a reduction in the fees payable for his attendance . He was commissioned on 29 September as a second lieutenant into the Royal Army Service Corps after only nine months of training . This was due to wartime need ; the normal course of study was eighteen months to two years . He passed out of the Royal Military College on 1 October , and was sent to France on 4 November 1914 to serve with the 4th Company 7th Divisional Train in the British Expeditionary Force . Warren Lewis served in such postings as Belgium ( 1919 ) , Aldershot ( November 1919 ) , Sierra Leone ( 9 March 1921 to 23 March 1922 ) , Colchester ( 4 October 1922 to December 1925 ) , Woolwich ( January 1925 until April 1927 ) , and China ( two tours of duty , the first beginning on 11 April 1927 in Kowloon , South China , then later in Shanghai , and ending in April 1930 ; the second beginning on 9 October 1931 and ending on 14 December 1932 ) . He retired on 21 December 1932 with the rank of Captain , after 18 years of active service . He was granted the temporary rank of Major when recalled to active service on 4 September 1939 . After the War , he took up residence with his brother at a house named ' The Kilns ' at Headington , near Oxford , where he lived until the death of C . S . Lewis in 1963 . Personal life . Warren Lewis renewed his Christian faith beginning in May 1931 . He was a frequent participant in weekly meetings of the Inklings and recorded comments about them in many of his diary entries . During the 1930s , the Lewis brothers undertook eight annual walking tours of as many as 50 miles ( 80 km ) , which Warren years later recalled with fondness , saying , " And jolly good fun they were too . " According to C . S . Lewis ' s letters to Arthur Greeves , Warren Lewis was an alcoholic . Writings . Soon after his first retirement in 1932 , Warren Lewis edited the Lewis family papers . During his final retirement he began researching a topic of his lifelong interest : the history of 17th - century France . As W . H . Lewis , he published seven books on France during the reign of Louis XIV , including " The Splendid Century : Some Aspects of French Life in the Reign of Louis XIV " and " Levantine Adventurer : The travels and missions of the Chevalier d ' Arvieux , 1653 – 1697 " . An excerpt from " The Splendid Century " appeared first in " Essays Presented to Charles Williams " , a volume edited by his brother as an informal Festschrift to benefit Williams ' widow . After C . S . Lewis died in 1963 , Warren edited the first published edition of his brother ' s letters ( 1966 ) , adding a memoir of his brother as a preface to the letters . Later editions of these letters were edited by Walter Hooper . Before his death , Warren Lewis deposited many of the Lewis family papers , including surviving papers of C . S . Lewis and himself , in the Marion E . Wade Collection of Wheaton College . In 1982 , selections from Warren Lewis ' diary were published under the title " Brothers and Friends " . Footnotes . 1 . Archives , Royal Military College , Sandhurst .