The Warden, published in 1855, is the first book in Anthony Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire series of six novels. It was his fourth novel.
This first novel in Trollope's classic Chronicles of Barsetshire series pits reformer John Bold against Septimus Harding, the precentor of Barchester Cathedral and the warden of Hiram's Hospital, an almshouse supported by a bequest to the local diocese. As Bold works to expose the fact that more of the charity's income goes to Harding than to its bedesmen, he begins to take a romantic interest in Harding's youngest daughter, Eleanor.