Lieutenant James Warden (1736–1792) was a Royal Navy officer and Lord of the Manor of Charmouth.
He married Elizabeth Newell and had three children, William Weeks Wharton (born 1766), Ann (1764) and Hannah (1763).
He objected to a number of local rates and elections at parish meetings, he took legal action against the vicar and others for removing sand from the beach and he also disinherited his son.
The time and place were quickly set and the duellers met at Hunters' Lodge on the morning of 28 April 1792.
[3] There is a memorial tomb for James Warden in the churchyard of the St Andrew's Church at Charmouth.