PARLIAMENTARY PORTRAIT
Earl Dudley and Ward
Lord Dudley and Ward is descended from a citizen of London, who owed his elevation to the Peerage, to his wealth, his character, and his industry.
In the reign of Charles I the goldsmith of the court was Mr Robert Ward, a person of good family in Suffolk. In the course of his business, Mr Ward acquired a large fortune, and in consequence of his wealth was enabled to render the Lord Dudley of that day pecuniary assistance.—Gratitude for these favours induced the pier to give his only daughter in marriage to the son of Mr Ward; but they had scarcely been married before the rebellion broke out, and the King, accompanied by all the loyal adherence to his person and household, and amongst the rest, by Lord Dudley and Mr and Mrs Ward, was compelled to retire to Oxford. During this period, it is supposed that the royal necessities were relieved by the purse of Mr Ward, who rose rapidly into favour with his Majesty. An opportunity of exhibiting his partiality in a palpable form soon presented itself to royalty. While the court was at Oxford, Lord Dudley died, and his Majesty having sent immediately for Mr Ward, ordered a new patient to be prepared, and conferred the vacant a title on him. From this creation, there has been a regular descent of the family, through six or seven peers, to the present day, so not all in the right line of father and son. In the year 1763, the direct line failed, and a new creation was made by his late Majesty, by which the cousin of the last nobleman was created Lord Dudley and Ward. The present Lord Dudley's grandson of the snow woman. The late Lord Dudley and Ward married Julia, second daughter of Godfrey Bosville, Esq., of Duntwaite, in Yorkshire, by whom he had issue the present Peer, who was born about the year 1781, and who is now, consequently in his 47th year.
It being determined by his Lordship's parents to bestow a private education on their only child, and at the same time to withdraw him from the dissipation of the metropolis, he was removed from the family mention to Paddington, and in trusted for a considerable time to the care of Mr James, a fellow of New College, Oxford. In due time, however, his Lordship was sent to Christ Church, of which College the late Mr Canning had shortly before entered, and there his Lordship was placed under the care of the late celebrated Doctor Cyril Jackson, then Dean of the House. Dr Jackson was one of the most eminent and extraordinary men of his day. A profound scholar, and a perfect gentleman—possessing the highest influence, and boasting the active friendship of the first men of the day; he, nevertheless died, as he had lived, Dean and President of the first College in Oxford.
Possessing a mind of the first power, and an address the most distinguished and captivating, he joined to both a piety, and ardour, and a sincerity, which are seldom met with in one of such high and lofty acquirements. Reposing on the native and inborn dignity of his character, he was holy devoid of ambition, unless the ambition of doing good, and never suffered his breast to be ruffled by those aspirations after church dignities and preferments, to the procurement of which so many sacrifice peace, character, and independence of mind. As the favourite tutor of the Prince of Wales, having given satisfaction, not only to his pupil, but to the Sovereign, the Ministry, and the people, perhaps there was no preferment which Dr Jackson might not have claimed as of right. But he disdained solicitation: and when, On the death of Archbishop Newcombe, the Primacy of Ireland was offered for his acceptance, it was refused, without hesitation, by Dr Jackson. The see of Oxford was afterwards pressed on him. This he also declined; but, in the ardour of a generous friendship, obtained the honour for his friend and fellow collegian, Dr Randolph, one of the cannons of Christ Church.
Under such a tutor as this, Lord Dudley made a vast progress, and a predominantly distinguished himself in classical learning. The scene, however, of his Lordship's life was soon to be changed; for, on his coming of age in 1802, he was elected for the borough of Downton, In Wiltshire. On the demise of Mr Edward Foley, however, Lord Dudley vacated his seat for this borough, and was returned without any opposition for Worcestershire, where his family possess great estates, and, in which county, his birth-day had been celebrated with great rejoicings, accompanied by a display of old English hospitality.
At the general election in 1805, Lord Dudley (then the Hon. John William Ward) declined the expense of a contested county election, and thought it more economical to be returned for the borough of Petersfield, which was, at one time, represented by the historian Gibbon, whose family, heretofore, possessed extensive burgage tenures in the town. The Hon. Mr. Ward, in 1807, transferred his services from Petersfield to Wareham. In this latter borough, which was purchased for a small sum of money by the family of Mr. Calcraft, and in which the right of election is limited to 120 voters, Mr Ward succeeded Mr Jonathan Raine, of the Common Law Bar.
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