523 



WARD, ROBERT PLUMER. 



WARD, SETrT. 



G21 



upon the English Language,' 1758. After his death appeared his 

 ' System of Oratory, delivered in a course of Lectures publicly read at 

 Gresbani College,' 2 vols. 3vo, 1758 ; and his ' Dissertations upon seve- 

 ral Passages of the Sacred Scriptures,' 8vo, vol. i. 1761, vol. ii. 1774. 

 lie is also the author of many papers in the 'Philosophical Transac- 

 tions,' and of some in the ' Archaeologia.' His literary assistance) was 

 also liberally contributed to the publications of several of his contem- 

 poraries; such as to Ainsworth's ' Monumeuta Kempiana,' 1720, for 

 which he supplied an elaborate dissertation on the Roman As and its 

 parts ; an essay on the vases, lamps, rings, and clasps of the ancients, 

 &c. ; to Horsley's ' Britannia Romana,' 1732, for which he wrote an 

 ' Essay on Peutingei-'s Table, so far as it relates to Britain ; ' to Buck- 

 ley's edition -of De Thou, 1733, for which he translated Buckley's three 

 epistles to Dr. Mead into Latin ; to Ainsworth's Latin Dictionary, both 

 the first and subsequent editions ; to the edition of ^Elian's ' History 

 of Animals,' published by Abraham Gronovius, in 1744 ; to the edition 

 of Yoluseuus, 'De Animi Tranquillitate,' published by Principal Wish- 

 art of Edinburgh in 1751 ; to Pine's engraved Horace, 1733-37, &c. 

 There are several letters to and from Dr. Ward in the ' Original Letters 

 of Eminent Literary Men, with Notes by Sir H. Ellis/ printed by tho 

 Cainden Society, 4to, London, 1843. 



WARD, ROBERT PLUMER, was the sixth son of Mr. John Ward, 

 a Spanish merchant resident at Gibraltar, who had married a Miss 

 Raphael, a Spanish Jewess; and was born on the 19th of March 1765. 

 He was educated at a small school at Walthamstow, and at Christ- 

 church, Oxford, under Dr. Cyril Jackson. He was called to the bar 

 at the Inner Temple in 1790. Having gone the Northern Circuit 

 without much success, he secured employment in cases before the 

 Privy Council. In 1805 he was appointed by Mr. Pitt one of the 

 Welsh judges, but soon afterwards retired from the legal profession in 

 order to undertake the more congenial duties of undersecretary of 

 state for Foreign Affairs. From 1807 till 1811 he was a Lord of the 

 Admiralty under the late Lord Mulgrave and tho Right Hon. Charles 

 Yorke ; he served the office of Clerk of the Ordnance from the latter 

 date till 1823, when he was appointed one of the auditors of the Civil 

 List a post which has since been abolished. He served as high sheriff 

 for the county of Herts in 1832, and for many years held a seat in 

 parliament, which he entered in 1802 as member for Lord Lonsdale's 

 pocket borough of Cockermouth, and subsequently for the since dis- 

 franchised constituency of Haslemere. Amongst all his political and 

 official duties, Mr. Ward found time and leisure for the composition of 

 several works of history and of fiction. Of the former, the be*t 

 known is Lis ' History of the Law of Nations in Europe from the 

 time of the Greeks and Romans to the age of Grotius,' which was pub- 

 lished in 1795, and was much praised for its research, its breadth of 

 view, and soundness of principle. Of his novels, ' Tremaiue ' and 

 ' De Vere ' are those which have attained the widest circulation. The 

 former was published anonymously in 1825, and the latter in 1827. 

 His other works are 'An Inquiry into the Conduct, of European 

 Wars,' 1803, a pamphlet which first enlisted on his side the patronage 

 and favour of Pitt; 'Illustrations of Human Life,' 1837; 'Pictures of 

 the World,' 1838; an 'Historical Essay on the Revolution of 1688,' 

 2 vols. 8vo, 1838; and, lastly, 'De Clifford,' a novel, published in 

 1841. 



From the middle of 1809 till late in life Mr. Ward kept a political 

 diary, which has since been published down to the year 1820. It is 

 valuable as an historical document, and as throwing some light on the 

 state of things under the Perceval and Liverpool administrations. 

 Mixing largely with the world of politicians, and being equally skilful 

 in gathering and prompt in recording the gossip of the day, Mr. Ward 

 was able to collect many really curious public facts relating to Canning, 

 Castlereagh, the much-debated question of the Regency, and the pro- 

 ceedings against Queen Caroline, which are not to be found in any 

 other publication. The later portion of the 'Diary' is at present 

 withheld from publication, owing to the warmth of its political parti- 

 sanship and the severity of its comments on living statesmen. The 

 ' Diary ' will be found in the ' Memoirs of the Political and Literary 

 Life of Robert Plumer Ward, Esq.,' published in 1850 by his friend 

 and relative the Hon. Edmund Phipps, 2 vols. Svo. 



Mr. Ward was thrice married : first, in 1796, to a daughter of C. 

 J. Maling, Esq., by the Dowager Countess of Mulgrave ; secondly, 

 in 1828, to Jauo, daughter of the Hon. and Rev. George Hamilton, 

 son of the seventh Earl of Abercorn (by his countess Anne, daughter 

 of Colonel John Plumer, M.P. for Herts in the 17th century), and in 

 consequence assumed the additional name and arms of Plumer ; his 

 third wife was a Mrs. Okeover, a daughter of the late General Sir 

 George Ansou, G.C.B. He had the misfortune to see nearly all his 

 children carried off by consumption, with the exception of his only son 

 by his first wife, now Sir Henry George Ward, noticed below. He 

 died at Okeover Hall, on the 13th of August 1846. 



*WARD, SIR HENRY GEORGE, G.C.M.G., is the only son of 

 the late Robert Plumer Ward, Esq., by his first marriage. He was 

 born about tho year 1798. He was appointed attache" at Stockholm 

 in 1816, and was for some time in charge of that mission ; in 1818 he 

 was transferred to the Hague, and in the following year to Madrid. 

 In November 1823 he went to Mexico with the first commission, and 

 was British minister in that country from 1825 to 1827. In 1832 he 

 entered parliament in the Liberal interest, as member for the since 



di-franchised borough of St. Albans, which he continued to represent 

 till the dissolution consequent upon the death of William IY. in 1837, 

 when he was elected for Sheffield. This constituency he represented 

 down to the month of May 1849, when he was appointed Lord High 

 Commissioner of the Ionian Islands, and received the honour of* 

 knighthood. During the last three years of his parliamentary life he 

 held tho post of secretary to the Admiralty under the late Earl of 

 Auckland and Sir T. F. Earing, successively first lords of that depart- 

 ment. Soon after entering parliament, Mr. Ward had been appointed 

 minister-plenipotentiary for acknowledging tho newly formed republic 

 of Mexico. His Ion? absence from England in this capacity caused him 

 at first to be indefinite in the declaration of his political opinions ; but 

 in 1834 he distinguished himself by a motion for the reform of the Irish 

 Church Establishment, which was the immediate cause of the political 

 changes which took place in that year, and of the new organisation of 

 the government. In 1835 he declared himself in favour of the ballot, 

 triennial parliaments, and household suffrage. He was appointed 

 governor of the Ionian Islands in 1849 ; and in that position very 

 highly distinguished himself by his firm, yet considerate and liberal 

 conduct under somewhat trying circumstances. He was promoted in 

 1856 from the government of the Ionian Islands to the governorship 

 of Ceylon, which he at present (1857) holds. He is married to a 

 daughter of Sir John Edward Swinburne,,Bart., of Caphcaton, county 

 Northumberland. 



WARD, SETH, an English divine and astronomer of the 17th cen- 

 tury, was born at Buntingford in Hertfordshire, in 1617, and there 

 received the rudiments of his education. He was sent from thence to 

 Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge, where ho applied himself par- 

 ticularly to the study of mathematics, and of that college he subse- 

 quently became a fellow. Eight years after his admission he incurred 

 the censure of the vice-chancellor for having, in his character of 

 prsevaricator, or public jester, exercised too much freedom in his 

 language : the censure was however reversed on the following day. 



On the breaking out of the civil war, Mr. Ward, having refused to 

 subscribe the " solemn league and covenant " for the abolition of epis- 

 copacy, &c., and being engaged with other persons in drawing up a 

 treatise against the covenant, was deprived of his fellowship : he 

 continued however to reside at the college till 1643, when he removed 

 to the neighbourhood of London. He spent some time at Aldbury 

 in Surrey, in company with Mr. Oughtred, and the two mathematicians 

 prosecuted together their favourite study : he afterwards accepted the 

 offer of his friend Mr. Ralph Freeman to become the tutor of his sons, 

 and he lived iu the house of that gentleman at Aspeudeu in Hcrt- 

 fortshire till the year 1649, when he became domestic chaplain to 

 Thomas Lord Wenman, who resided at Thame in Oxfordshire. 



Iu the same year the parliamentary commissioners, at their visita- 

 tion of the University of Oxford, removed from their posts the Savilian 

 professors both of astronomy and geometry ; when Mr. Greaves, who 

 had held the chair of astronomy, recommended Mr. Ward to be his 

 successor : the recommendation was attended to, and at the same time 

 Dr. Wallis was appointed to the chair of geometry. On this occasion 

 Mr. Ward took the. oath of allegiance to the commonwealth, a step 

 for which, on the restoration of the monarchy, he incurred consider- 

 able obloquy : he exerted himself however to revive the astronomical 

 lectures, which had been for some time neglected ; and by his industry 

 and talents he brought them into great repute. In 1654 he took the 

 degree of doctor in divinity, and, five years afterwards, he was made 

 principal of Jesus College : he was subsequently 'chosen president of 

 Trinity College, but these posts he was obliged to resign at the Resto- 

 ration. While Dr. Ward resided at Oxford he associated himself 

 with the eminent men of the time, and particularly with his friend 

 Dr. Wilkins, at the apartments of the latter in Wadham College : 

 from these meetings arose the Royal Society, of which he became a 

 fellow in 1661. 



Though Dr. Ward had held appointments under the government of 

 Cromwell, it was well known that his sentiments were always in 

 favour of monarchy; and accordingly, through the interest of the 

 Duke of Albemarle and the Earl of Clarendon, he was appointed, iu 

 1660, to the rectory of St. Lawrence, Old Jewry. In the same year 

 he was made precentor of the cathedral of Exeter ; in the year follow- 

 ing he was appointed dean ; and in 1662, bishop of the diocese. Five 

 years afterwards he was translated to the see of Salisbury ; and in 

 1C71 he was made chancellor of the Order of the Garter : through his 

 representations this honour was permanently attached to the see. In 

 1660 Dr. Ward had a violent fever, which, though he recovered from 

 it, seems to have undermined his constitution : as he advanced in lifa 

 the weakness returned, and he gradually lost the use of his faculties. 

 He died in January 1689, in the seventy-second year of his age. 



Bishop Ward was a man of great benevolence : in 1682 he founded 

 at Salisbury a college for ten females, widows of orthodox clergymen ; 

 and at Buntingford, where he was born, he founded an hospital for 

 tho poor. He is accused of having been in some respects a time- 

 serving man ; and, though his disposition was humane, ho lent himself 

 readily to an order from court, by which he was enjoined to suppress 

 the religious services of the nonconformist ministers in his diocese. 

 In the House of Lords he was distinguished alike for the soundness of 

 his arguments and his power as an orator. 



His theological works are, ' An Essay on the Being and Attributes 



