Between 1859 and 1877 Ward paid for the entire refacing and restoration of Worcester Cathedral[6] and there is a monument to him in the cathedral. In 1868 he defrayed one third of the cost of the tower and spire of St John the Baptist's Church at Hagley.[6] He was also a trustee of the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery.
In 1860, the earldom held by his kinsman was revived when he was created Viscount Ednam, of Ednam in the County of Roxburgh, and Earl of Dudley, of Dudley Castle in the County of Stafford.[7]
Personal life
The funerary monument to William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley, in Worcester Cathedral
Lord Dudley married, firstly, Selina Constance, daughter of Hubert de Burgh, on 24 April 1851. She died on 14 November of the same year, aged only 22. There were no children from this marriage.
He married, secondly, Georgina Elisabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, 7th Baronet, and Lady Louisa Hay-Drummond, on 21 November 1865. His sister-in-law Harriet Moncreiffe, who a few years later, as Lady Mordaunt, became embroiled in a sensational divorce case, referred to him as "frizzle wig".[8] Together, William and Georgina were the parents of six sons and one daughter:
Captain Hon. Cyril Augustus Ward (1876–1930), who married Baroness Irene de Brienen, a daughter of Baron de Brienen. He took part in the Parker expedition to Jerusalem, going to Jerusalem in 1909. He served with the Royal Navy during the First World War. He was declared bankrupt in 1923 and subsequently moved to Kenya where he died.[10][11]
He owned 25,000 acres, with most of his income coming from 5,000 acres in Staffordshire.[14]
Ward died on 7 May 1885, aged 68, at Dudley House, Park Lane, Mayfair, in London, and was originally buried in a marble sarcophagus in the crypt of Saint Michael and All Angels Church in Great Witley, Worcestershire. His remains were later moved to Worcester Cathedral, where a funerary monument to him was erected. The Countess of Dudley survived her husband by over forty years and died in February 1929 at her home at Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park[15] at the age of 82, having spent over half her life as a widow.[citation needed]
References
^"Obituary". The Times. No. 31441. 8 May 1885. p. 12. Retrieved 16 July 2024 – via The Times Digital Archive.
^ abCokayne, George Edward (1910). The Complete Peerage. Vol. 4. London: The St. Catherine Press, Ltd. p. 490.
^ abFolkes, J. Homery The Victorian Architect and George Edmund Street Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society. Third Series Vol 4 1974 p9
