Warren Hastings (1732-1818) was born in Oxfordshire and educated at Westminster where he was a King's Scholar. His academic career was however interupted and he spent the majority of his career in India (1750-1764 and 1769-1771) where he became Govenor General.
His family had owned the manor house at Daylesford prior to 1715 and a relative remained as parson at the rectory, where Warren spent much of his youth. He apparently always hoped to repurchase the manor house and this ambition was finally realised in 1788.