FIRST GENERATION

WILLIAM WARD 1723-1744

William was born about 1723 (we assume in Ayton-his record has not been traced). He married Hannah DAVISON on 26 April 1744 at Hutton Bushel. She was born nearby at Ayton Seymour. They had ten children.

The church of St.Mathews still stands.

SECOND GENERATION

William WARD

Thomas WARD b.1753

Hannah WARD

Mary WARD

Elizabeth WARD

THIRD GENERATION

WilliamWARD 1787-1852

William was born on 29th July 1787.

William was first appointed a solicitor by Royal Warrant in 1810, and founded the firm Ward & Sons He first appears in the list of attorneys in the 1816-17 Leeds Commercial Directory. We do not know when he first arrived in Leeds, or what he was doing previously.

Thomas WARD

Loftus WARD

Mary WARD

FOURTH GENERATION

William Sykes WARD 1815-1885

William was born on 29th October 1815. He married Caroline BYWATER in 1841 in Leeds. He was baptised at Leeds Parish Church on 10th January 1816 on the same day as Sarah Ward (b. 15th November 1815) the daughter of William and Elizabeth Ward, Inn Keeper, Briggate.

He joined his father as an attorney in Leeds. He was secretary of the Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society between 1840 and 1869 and patented improvements to atmospheric railways in 1845. He gave over fourteen lectures between 1836 and 1871 on a wide range of subjects from "The atomic composition of matter" to the explanation of the process by which milk is converted to powder- The Desiccated Milk of Commerce.

In 1826 he was living in his father's house at Leathley Lodge, Hunslet Lane. In 1856 he was at Claypit House and by 1861 he was at Denison Hall, Hanover Sq, Leeds. This was a fashionable area of Leeds at the time. William is mentioned in an article on the Heaton's of Claremont:

So here in 1856 we have Dr and Mrs Heaton moving to 23 Clarendon Road, and eighteenth century merchant's house, which he name Claremont....He was later to buy the kitchen garden with glasshouses from the then owner of Denison Hall, Mr Sykes Ward...At that time Woodhouse Square consisted of elegant Georgian houses on the south side. In Clarendon Road and the surrounding area new villas and large terrace houses were being built.

Aspects of Leeds. Ed. Lynne Stevenson Tate. Wharncliffe Publishing Ltd, Barnsley 1998 isbn: 1-871647-38-x

FIFTH GENERATION

William WARD 1843-1910

William was born on 28th February 1893. Along with his brother John he was admitted to Leeds Grammar School on 25th August 1856. William left in 1859 and was admitted as a solicitor in 1866. He became Public Prosecutor for Leeds (1874-1909) and vice-consul for the USA. Major in 2nd West Yorkshire Volunteers. He was awarded the Volunteer Officers' Decoration. This badge was institued in 1892 to reward "long and meritorious service of Officers in the Volunteer Forces in Great Britain". The badge awarded to Major Ward was hallmarked 1892 which may mean that he was one of the first recipients of the award.

Last address 36 Hyde Terrace, Leeds. He died on 2nd January 1910 and is buried in Lawnswood Cemetery on the outskirts of Leeds.

John Bywater WARD 1844-1898

John was born on 13th March 1844. He married Frances Wastneys TOONE on 7th February 1880

Along with his brother William he was admitted to Leeds Grammar School on 25th August 1856. He was "removed with notice" in midsummer 1861 to enter the medical profession. He was Assistant House Surgeon at Sheffield General Infirmary until his appointment in 1872 to Superintendent of Warneford Asylum, Oxford. The Asylum opened in 1826, the first of a number of hospitals to move to Headington in search of fresh air and open countryside. An 1847 directory states: On the summit of Headington Hill is the Warneford lunatic asylum, opened in 1826, for the accommodation of lunatics selected from the higher classes of society. It was extended in 1877 and 1887

There is a memorial window in SS Margaret and John Church, Oxford.

Caroline Mercy WARD b1852

Alfred WARD 1856-1911

Edmund WARD b.1856

Edmund was born on 17th March 1856 the twin brother of Alfred. He was a solicitor practicing with his brother William at 12 Bank Street, Leeds. In 1897 he was living at 19 Bainbridge Road, off Headingly Lane, Leeds.

SIXTH GENERATION

Francis Sykes WARD 1880-1898

Francis was born on 22 November 1880. "Uncle Frank". He died at Wadham on 10th October 1898

John Bywater WARD 1882-1918

John Bywater Ward was born on 10th March 1882 and was known as Jack. He was in the Royal Navy and fought in the Battle of Jutland on board HMS Ajax. At the time he was the youngest Commander in the Navy and had a bright future. He died of pneimonia in 1919 as a result of the harsh conditions in the North Sea.

Caroline Henratia WARD 1884-1980

Caroline "Lena" was born on 28th October 1884. She emigrated to Canada to join her future husband Giles Carr Randall HARVEY. They married on 5th October 1909 in Vernon, British Columbia. They has a fruit ranch in Okanagan Mission, now part of Kelowna on the Okanagan Lake. They returned to Oxford in 1926 following his death and lived with her mother at 40 St.Giles until her death in 1929. Last address 318 Banbury Road, Oxford.

Edith Bywater BYWATER-WARD 1886-1959

Edith was born in Oxford [not confirmed] on 29th May 1886 the youngest of the four children of John Bywater Ward and Frances Wastneys TOONE. She married Claude St.John O'Carroll on 19th April 1911 in Oxford. The wedding was reported in the Oxford Times, April 19th, 1911.

Edith took the name of Bywater-Ward along with her mother who changed her name by deed poll on 29th January 1906. There is no record of why this change was made.

Charles Harvey wrote [9th February 1998]

Both my Mother and Aunt Edie were educated at the Girl's High School in Oxford where Frances [Harvey] also went when living with her Greatgrandmother at 40 St.Giles. They always use to go in the summer to stay at Southsea and Uncle Jack was very interested in all the ships. Perhaps that was why he decided to go into the Navy. Uncle Frank unfortunately died of a burst appendix when at Wadham.

Aunt Edie was always very active, I don't know about her skiing. She was very soft with all animals and had a large aviary at Drax Avenue [Wimbledon, London] with lots of dear little budgerigars of all colours. She was always very frank and called a spade a spade. All her friends in Drax Avenue called her 'Ma Okey'. They had an old Morris Cowley with a bullnose in the twenties. At Christmas the whole family came to Woodlawn where Granny had moved in 1927. Jack O'Carroll came as well with a Belgian girl who I think was a sort of au pair. We met her again the following year when Granny took us to stay at Knocke in Belgium, I was still at school but left Magdalen in 1930.

Edith met her husband skiing. The family story is that they collided on the ski slope. She was clearly a tomboy riding a motorbike in Oxford as a young woman.

SEVENTH GENERATION

Angela WARD 1910-1922