Sir Henry George Ward | |
|---|---|
 Henry George Ward, 1842 engraving byWilliam Henry Mote, afterJames Holmes. | |
| 11th Governor of British Ceylon | |
| In office 11 May 1855 – 30 June 1860 | |
| Monarch | Queen Victoria |
| Preceded by | Charles Justin MacCarthy (Acting governor) |
| Succeeded by | Henry Frederick Lockyer (Acting governor) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 February 1797 |
| Died | 2 August 1860(1860-08-02) (aged 63) |
| Spouse(s) | Emily Elizabeth Swinburne Ward, m. 8 April 1825 |
| Children | 10 living children, includingDudley Ward (judge) |
Sir Henry George WardGCMG (27 February 1797 – 2 August 1860) was an English diplomat, politician, and colonial administrator.
He was the son ofRobert Ward (who in 1828 changed his surname bysign manual to Plumer Ward) and his first wife Catherine Julia Maling, daughter of Christopher Thompson Maling ofWest Herrington, County Durham; and the cousin ofWilliam Ward andWilliam George Ward. He was born in London on 27 February 1797. Educated atHarrow School, and sent abroad to learn languages, he became in 1816 attaché to the British legation atStockholm, underSir Edward Thornton. He was transferred toThe Hague in 1818, and toMadrid in 1819. He was appointed joint commissioner toMexico in October 1823, and returned to England in 1824 and he married Emily Elizabeth Swinburne in London on 8 April.[1] Emily was the daughter of Emma Bennett andSir John Swinburne, 6th Baronet. The Wards went together to Mexico in 1825, aschargé d'affaires, and two daughters were born there: Francess Guadalupe Filpe Maria Ward Butler (1825–1913) and Georgina Katherine Petronilla Ward (1826–1902). During this time, Emily Ward kept a notebook with sketches of their journey in Mexico, publishing them as illustrations in her husband's future book and also travel writings under her own name.[2] Their son,Charles Dudley Robert Ward, was born at sea when they returned to England in 1827.[3][4] Three more children were born soon thereafter: Jane Hamilton Julia Ward (1829–1901), Swinburne Ward (1830–1885), and Emily Rohesia Ward Lowry (1831–1916). Emily and Henry ended up with a total of ten children born between 1825 and 1839.[5]
During a period of unrest in 1831 he raised theGilston Troop of Hertfordshire Yeomanry Cavalry atGilston Park. He used his political connections to prevent the troop from being either incorporated into theSouth Hertfordshire Yeomanry Cavalry or disbanded, and it survived as an independent unit until its disbandment in 1842.[6]
In December 1832 Ward entered the House of Commons, elected as Member of Parliament (MP) forSt Albans, and sitting for that seat until 1837; and then forSheffield from 1837 to 1849.[7] His reputation was as an advanced liberal, and he regardedclassical economics as authoritative, as witnessed by his opposition to theTen Hours Bill.[8]
Ward's career in Parliament was marked by his hostility to theChurch of Ireland, on which he moved a yearly resolution. The first occasion for this motion, that "the protestant episcopal establishment in Ireland exceeds the spiritual wants of the protestant population", was 27 May 1834,[9] and it was particularly significant in British politics: it was brought at a time when the cabinet ofEarl Grey was deeply divided on Irish issues.[10] The timing owed to the prompting ofLord Durham, who wished to see an administration of a more Radical complexion.[11] On the same dayLord Ripon,Edward Stanley,Sir James Graham, and theDuke of Richmond resigned office because they could not support the appointment of an Irish church commission.[12] Ward had given notice of the motion, but behind the scenes, the Cabinet could not agree on a common approach, and a number of them had audiences with the King. A group aroundEdward Ellice saw this as the occasion for Stanley and Graham to quit the administration. The outcome was only resolved late in the evening when Stanley and Graham were already gone, and theMarquess of Lansdowne threatened to resign himself unlessViscount Althorp did as he was told by Grey, moving an adjournment of the motion in the Commons, while proposing an enquiry into the Irish church. On 2 June Ward's motion was voted down by 396 to 120.[13]
Ward was strongly opposed toChartism, which he saw starkly in terms ofclass conflict;[14] but also took up the cause of thesecret ballot, one Chartist demand.George Grote had introduced a motion on it in 1833, and up to 1839 there had been increasing support, withThomas Babington Macaulay arguing on its side. Ward continued the series of motions in 1842, when Grote no longer was an MP.[15]
Ward wasFirst Secretary of the Admiralty from 1846 to 1849.[3] He spoke in Parliament in defence ofWilliam Symonds, attacked in 1848 by the Radical MPsJohn MacGregor andJoseph Hume on grounds of profligate expenditure, putting the case that dockyard spending had seen retrenchment.[16]
Ward bought fromCharles Buller andHenry Cole the loss-makingWeekly Chronicle, and used it to campaign for his views.[3][17]
Ward supported the colonisation aims and methods ofEdward Gibbon Wakefield;[17] and was a committee member of theSouth Australian Association set up in 1834 by Wakefield, with Buller and Grote, and alsoWilliam Clay,Rowland Hill,William Molesworth,Southwood Smith,Henry Warburton andWilliam Wolryche-Whitmore.[18] Ward chaired the 1836 select committee on Disposal of Lands in the British Colonies.[19] The other members of the committee wereFrancis Baring,Henry Lytton Bulwer,William Ewart Gladstone,George Grey,William Hutt,John Arthur Roebuck, andGeorge Poulett Scrope. Eleven witnesses were called, but the colonists were not well represented among them, and Wakefield was given a platform for his views. The committee's report was in effect an endorsement of the "Wakefield system" and its recent implementation.[20]
Ward was also on the committee of theNew Zealand Association set up in 1837, with a number of the same people;[21] and brought resolutions to Parliament on colonisation in June 1839.[22] The initiative then floundered in the face of opposition fromLord John Russell andRobert Vernon Smith in the Commons, and from Tories, with widespread indifference. Ward and Hutt supportedWilliam Smith O'Brien on colonisation in Wakefield's style in June 1840, but the House was not convinced of the practicality of further schemes and disliked the expense.[23]
In the days of early speculation, Ward was very involved with railway enterprises. He spoke in Parliament about the detrimental effect of the seekers ofstag profit who invested, often fraudulently, in public offerings of railway shares; he put a figure of only 40% on the allocation to "genuine" investors.[24] After a period in which he had put his own finances on a sounder basis, he lost heavily in theRailway Mania of 1846. Those close to the family believed he had dissipated the large fortune that had come from his Plumer stepmother.[25]
In May 1849 Ward was appointedLord High Commissioner to the Ionian Islands, a post he held until 1855. The islands were then under the protection of the British Crown. He arrived atCorfu on 2 June 1849, found the local assembly unworkable and prorogued it. On 1 August 1849, he proclaimed an amnesty to those who had taken part in the rebellion inCephalonia against his predecessor,Lord Seaton. By the end of August, there was a fresh insurgency; he went to Cephalonia, and suppressed it by October, using a large number of hangings and floggings.[26][27] His actions were criticised in the House of Commons. The rest of his time was more peaceful, but Ward used his prerogative powers to freely banish newspaper editors of papers and members of the assembly. He left on 13 April 1855.[3]
Ward on 11 May 1855 became governor ofCeylon. His first speech, that year, dealt with railways; he developed also economic policy on communications and telegraphy, and immigrant labour. He also consolidated the public administration. On the outbreak of theIndian rebellion of 1857 he despatched all the European troops in the colony toBengal.[3]
He succeededSir Charles Trevelyan asGovernor of Madras in June 1860 but served in that capacity only for a few weeks until his death fromcholera on 2 August, aged 63.[17] He is buried inSt. Mary's Church, Madras.
Ward was made aG.C.M.G. in 1849. A statue was erected to him atKandy.[3]
Ward published two books about Mexico, illustrated by his wife.[3] InMexico in 1827 (1828) he tried to present a balanced view of the prospects for the country, formally independent from Spain in 1821.[28] He gave an analysis of Mexico's mines,[29] and was rather negative about the competence ofWilliam Bullock who had a mining concession from the Mexican government.[30] He was also critical of attempts to financepearl diving.[31]
InThe First Step to a Poor Law for Ireland (1837), Ward argued that large-scale emigration, sponsored by the state, was a precondition for the introduction of theworkhouse system in Ireland.[32]
A volume of hisSpeeches and Minutes in Ceylon appeared atColombo in 1864.[3]
Ward married, in 1824, Emily Elizabeth, daughter ofSir John Swinburne, 6th Baronet, ofCapheaton Hall.[3] Their eldest son,Dudley Ward, became a judge in New Zealand, and the second son,Swinburne Ward was a diplomat and amateur naturalist.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: "Ward, Henry George".Dictionary of National Biography. London:Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forSt Albans 1832 –1837 With:Sir Francis Vincent to 1835 Edward Grimston from 1835 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forSheffield 1837–1849 With:John Parker | Succeeded by |
| Government offices | ||
| Preceded by Charles Justin MacCarthy acting governor | Governor of Ceylon 1855–1860 | Succeeded by Henry Frederick Lockyer acting governor |
