Author: Ward, Edward Michael
Biography:
WARD, Edward Michael (1789-1832: ancestry.com)
The attribution of Oxoniana (1812) by “a Cambridge Master of Arts” is by HL and has little to recommend it, but since the attribution has been made Ward deserves an entry. The preface to Oxoniana reveals that the verse letters, advocating the introduction of scientific and practical subjects to the academic curriculum, were composed originally for “a young member of Christ Church” Oxford who had asked for comments on the Oxford system from the author at the Other Place. The published version is dedicated to the Rev. Cyril Jackson (1746-1819), who as Dean of Christ Church (1783-1809) had shown himself open to reforms. Ward was born at Bangor Castle, Co. Down, Northern Ireland, on 5 Feb. 1789, the eldest son of the Hon. Robert Ward and his wife Sophia Whaley. He was admitted to Peterhouse, Cambridge (matric. 1807, MA 1810), and entered the diplomatic service as Secretary of the British legation in Tuscany (1815-16), then Chargé d’affaires at Lisbon (1816-23) and Minister plenipotentiary in Russia (1824-5) and Germany (1828-32). On 14 Sept. 1815 he married Matilda Charlotte Stewart, third daughter of the Earl of Londonderry, at Mount Stewart, Co. Down, Ireland. At some point after that, for unknown reasons, he started going by “Michael Edward” rather than “Edward Michael”; death notices use both but his will of 1815 has “Michael Edward.” The couple had two children, a daughter and a son. Ward is not known to have published anything, let alone poetry, so the attribution is questionable, but the dates could match. He died at Brighton on 12 Sept. 1832 during a period of leave from the embassy at Dresden and was buried there on 18 Sept. (ancestry.com 18 Apr. 2024; ACAD; findmypast.com 18 Apr. 2024; SJC 12 Sept. 1815; Courier [London] 20 Sept. 1815, 19 Sept. 1832) HJ