Family and Education

b. 6 Mar. 1704, 1st s. of William Ward. educ. King’s, Camb. 1722. m. (1) 26 Dec. 1723, Anna Maria (d. 12 Dec. 1725), da. of Charles Bourchier of Clontarf, co. Dublin, 1s. (John M.P., 2nd Visct. Dudley and Ward); (2) 1 Jan. 1745, Mary, da. and h. of John Carver of Hanover Sq., 2s. (2nd s. William, M.P., 3rd Visct. Dudley and Ward). suc. fa. 1720; cos. as 6th Baron Ward of Birmingham 21 May 1740; cr. Visct. Dudley and Ward 21 Apr. 1763.

Offices Held

Grand master of freemasons 1742-3; steward of anniversary dinner of independent electors of Westminster 1748; recorder of Worcester.

Biography

Returned unopposed as a Tory at Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1727, Ward consistently voted against the Administration till he lost his seat in 1734. During the negotiations which led to the Forty-five rebellion, his name was sent to the French by the English Jacobites as one of their most influential and wealthiest members.1 In the tumultuous county election of 1747, when he took an active part in the campaign against the Leveson Gowers, who had deserted the Tories, Lord Gower complained to Newcastle that Ward was ‘endeavouring to undermine’ his interest in the county ‘by all the little low dirty tricks you can imagine’.2

He died 6 May 1774.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. AEM and D Angl. 82, ff. 4-23.
• 2. Add. 32709, f. 61.