Author: Ward, William
Biography:
WARD, William (1769-1823: ODNB)
Missionary and journalist. He was born at Derby; his mother’s name is unknown but his father was John Ward, a carpenter and builder. His father died when Ward was a child and he was raised by his mother, a pious Methodist. He was taught by a Mr. Congreve and a Mr. Breary in Derby before being apprenticed to John Drewry, a printer and bookseller. He stayed with Drewry for two years after completing his apprenticeship and then moved to Stafford to work on the Staffordshire Advertiser. In about 1794 he moved to Hull where he edited the Hull Advertiser. He became a fervent supporter of the Baptist Church and was baptised as a member. He began preaching and studied at the theological college near Halifax before sailing for India in 1799. At Serampore--where the Baptist mission was founded in 1800--he worked as a printer, producing Bibles translated into a number of languages for distribution throughout India. He married Mary Fountain (formerly Tidd), a widow, in 1802; they had four children but only two survived infancy. In 1819-20 he travelled to England, Scotland, and the United States to raise funds for establishing a college at Serampore where Bengalis could be instructed in European languages and literature. (The College, established by Ward, Joshua Marshman, and William Carey, still exists.) He died of cholera at Serampore and was interred in the mission burial ground there. His other publications include his four-volume Account of the Writings, Religion, and Manners of the Hindoos (1806-11). (ODNB 14 Dec. 2020; Samuel Stennett, Memoirs of the Life of the Rev. William Ward [1825]; ancestry.co.uk 14 Dec. 2020) SR