William Ward (cricketer)
Encyclopedia
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
. He came from an affluent family which owned property on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
. He was educated at Winchester College
Winchester College
Winchester College is an independent school for boys in the British public school tradition, situated in Winchester, Hampshire, the former capital of England. It has existed in its present location for over 600 years and claims the longest unbroken history of any school in England...
, and then received financial training in Antwerp.
Life and career
William Ward was a prominent right-handed batsman and an occasional slow lob bowler. His first-class career began in the 1810 English cricket season1810 English cricket season
In the 1810 English cricket season, William Ward made his debut in first-class cricket and The Bs were dismissed for only 6.-Honours:* Most runs – William Lambert 396 * Most wickets – William Lambert 31-Events:...
but it was interrupted by the Napoleonic War until 1816. Ward played until 1845.
His score of 278 for the MCC
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club is a cricket club in London founded in 1787. Its influence and longevity now witness it as a private members' club dedicated to the development of cricket. It owns, and is based at, Lord's Cricket Ground in St John's Wood, London NW8. MCC was formerly the governing body of...
v Norfolk at Lord's
Lord's Cricket Ground
Lord's Cricket Ground is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and Wales Cricket Board , the European Cricket Council and, until August 2005, the...
in 1820 was the highest individual innings in first-class cricket
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...
until W. G. Grace
W. G. Grace
William Gilbert Grace, MRCS, LRCP was an English amateur cricketer who is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest players of all time, having a special significance in terms of his importance to the development of the sport...
scored first-class cricket's first triple-century in August 1876, more than 27 years after Ward's death. The ball
Cricket ball
A cricket ball is a hard, solid leather ball used to play cricket. Constructed of cork and leather, a cricket ball is heavily regulated by cricket law at first class level...
used is thought to be the oldest in existence and is kept in the MCC Museum.
In 1825 Thomas Lord
Thomas Lord
Thomas Lord was an English professional cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1787 to 1802. He made a brief comeback, playing in one further match in 1815. Overall, Lord made 90 known appearances in first-class cricket...
was negotiating the sale of his cricket ground as a building estate when Ward stepped in and saved Lord's for cricket. The price was £5000. He was celebrated in the following anonymous poem.
- And of all who frequent the ground named after Lord,
- On the list first and foremost should stand Mr Ward.
- No man will deny, I am sure, when I say
- That he's without rival first bat of the day,
- And although he has grown a little too stout,
- Even Matthews is bothered at bowling him out.
- He's our life blood and soul in this noblest of games,
- And yet on our praises he's many more claims;
- No pride, although rich, condescending and free,
- And a well informed man and a city M.P.
John Nyren
John Nyren
John Nyren was an English cricketer and author. Nyren made 16 known appearances in first-class cricket from 1787 to 1817...
dedicated his famous book The Young Cricketer's Tutor
The Cricketers of My Time
The Cricketers of My Time is a memoir of cricket, nominally written by the former Hambledon cricketer John Nyren about the players of the late 18th century, most of whom he knew personally. Nyren, who had no recognised literary skill, collaborated with the eminent Shakespearean scholar Charles...
to Ward when it appeared in 1833. He described Ward as "the most worthy man of the day to reflect credit upon my choice as a patron".
More recently, Ward was mentioned in The Duckworth Lewis Method
The Duckworth Lewis Method
The Duckworth Lewis Method are an Irish pop group formed by Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy and Thomas Walsh of Pugwash. The Duckworth Lewis Method is also the title of the group's only album, which was released on 3 July 2009, a few days before the start of the 2009 Ashes series. A concept album...
's song, "Gentlemen and Players".
- A bored young William Ward MP.
- Bought Lord's from Thomas Lord
- In eighteen twenty five.
The lyric is slightly inaccurate as Ward did not become MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
until 1826.
Ward was a Tory MP for the City of London
City of London (UK Parliament constituency)
The City of London was a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1950.-Boundaries and boundary...
between 1826 and 1831, and a director of the Bank of England
Bank of England
The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694, it is the second oldest central bank in the world...
.