Sir Edward Ward (1638–1714) was an English lawyer and judge. He became
chief baron of the exchequer
The Chief Baron of the Exchequer was the first "baron" (meaning judge) of the English Exchequer of Pleas. "In the absence of both the Treasurer of the Exchequer or First Lord of the Treasury, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, it was he who pre ...
, and is best known as the judge in the state trial for piracy of
Captain Kidd
William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd ( – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and had experience as a pirate. He was tried and executed in London in 1701 for murder a ...
.
Life
Born in June 1638, he was the second son of William Ward of
Preston, Rutland
Preston is a village and civil parish in the county of Rutland in the East Midlands of England. It lies north of Uppingham on the A6003 to Oakham. The population at the 2001 census was 179 falling slightly to 173 at the 2011 census.
The village ...
. He was educated under
Francis Meres
Francis Meres (1565/1566 – 29 January 1647) was an English churchman and author. His 1598 commonplace book includes the first critical account of poems and plays by Shakespeare.
Career
Francis Meres was born in 1565 at Kirton Meres in the par ...
at
Wing, Rutland
Wing is a village and civil parish in the East Midlands county of Rutland, England. The population was 315 at the 2001 census and 314 at that of 2011. It features a fine church and a labyrinth made of turf. Rutland Water reservoir is nearby.
Her ...
. He was a student at
Clifford's Inn
Clifford's Inn is a former Inn of Chancery in London. It was located between Fetter Lane, Clifford's Inn Passage, leading off Fleet Street and Chancery Lane in the City of London. The Inn was founded in 1344 and refounded 15 June 1668. It was di ...
, and was then admitted in June 1664 at the
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...
; he was
called to the bar
The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...
in 1670, and obtained a practice in the exchequer court.
Connected with the Whig faction, Ward appeared as one of the counsel for
William Russell, Lord Russell
William Russell, Lord Russell (29 September 163921 July 1683) was an English politician. He was a leading member of the Country Party, forerunners of the Whigs, who during the reign of King Charles II, laid the groundwork for opposition in t ...
, in July 1683. On 6 November 1684 he was leading counsel for his father-in-law,
Thomas Papillon
Thomas Papillon (6 September 1623 – 5 May 1702) was an English merchant and politician, an influential figure in the City of London for half a century. He served as a Commissioner for the Victualling of the Navy from 1689 to 1699.
Early life ...
, in the action for false imprisonment brought against him by
Sir William Pritchard
Sir William Pritchard or Prichard (1632?–1705) was an English merchant, slave trader and politician, Lord Mayor of London in 1682.
Early life
Born about 1632, was the second son of Francis Prichard of Southwark, and his wife, Mary Eggleston. ...
. Ward's argument was interrupted by Chief-justice
George Jeffreys, who declared that he had made a long speech but did not understand what he was about. Ward persisted, Jeffreys repeated his observations, there was hissing in the court, and Ward called his witnesses. The verdict went against his client, but in 1688 Ward was able to settle scores with Pritchard. On 25 November 1684 Ward appeared in the exchequer court for
Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield
Charles Gerard, 1st Earl of Macclesfield, PC (c. 16187 January 1694) was an English aristocrat, soldier and courtier.
Early life
The eldest son of Sir Charles Gerard, he was a member of an old Lancashire family, his great-grandfather having ...
, in the action of ''
scandalum magnatum
The privilege of peerage is the body of special privileges belonging to members of the British peerage. It is distinct from parliamentary privilege, which applies only to those peers serving in the House of Lords and the members of the House o ...
'' against John Starkey, a juryman of
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
, by which county he had recently been presented as a disaffected person.
In 1687 Ward became bencher of his inn, of which he was also Lent reader in 1690 and treasurer in 1693. On 12 April 1689 he was appointed by
William III William III or William the Third may refer to:
Kings
* William III of Sicily (c. 1186–c. 1198)
* William III of England and Ireland or William III of Orange or William II of Scotland (1650–1702)
* William III of the Netherlands and Luxembourg ...
a justice of the common pleas, but was excused, at his own wish, four days later. In July of that year he acted as one of the counsel for Dr.
John Elliott, Captain Vaughan, and Mr. Mould, who were impeached by the Commons for circulating King James's declaration.
He was appointed
Attorney-general
In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general.
In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...
on 30 March 1693, and was knighted at
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
on 30 October. He was sworn
serjeant-at-law
A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law (''servientes ad legem''), or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writ ...
on 3 June, and on 8 June 1695 was named lord chief baron of the exchequer. In the following March he was one of the judges who tried
Robert Charnock
Robert Charnock (or Chernock) (''c''. 1663 – 18 March 1696) was an English academic and Jacobite conspirator.
Life
Charnock belonged to a Warwickshire family, and was educated at Adams' Grammar School and Magdalen College, Oxford, becoming a ...
and his associates for treason. He was one of the judges who in January 1700 declined to give an opinion in the so-called "bankers' case upon the writ of error". In May of the same year he acted as one of the commissioners of the great seal. The most important case over which Ward presided was the trial of Captain William Kidd and his associates for
piracy
Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...
and murder in May 1701.
He died at his house in Essex Street,
The Strand on 14 July 1714. He was buried at
Stoke Doyle
Stoke Doyle is a village and civil parish in North Northamptonshire in England, two miles south-west of Oundle. The population of the village at the 2011 Census was included in the civil parish of Wadenhoe.
The village's name means 'Outlying f ...
,
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...
, where he had purchased the lordship of the manor in 1694. A portrait was engraved by R. White in 1702 from a painting by
Godfrey Kneller
Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723), was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to Kingdom of England, English and Br ...
. A monument was erected to his memory at
Stoke Doyle
Stoke Doyle is a village and civil parish in North Northamptonshire in England, two miles south-west of Oundle. The population of the village at the 2011 Census was included in the civil parish of Wadenhoe.
The village's name means 'Outlying f ...
by
John Michael Rysbrack
Johannes Michel or John Michael Rysbrack, original name Jan Michiel Rijsbrack, often referred to simply as Michael Rysbrack (24 June 1694 – 8 January 1770), was an 18th-century Flemish sculptor, who spent most of his career in England where h ...
c. 1722.
Family
Ward married, on 30 March 1676, Elizabeth, third daughter of the letter writer
Jane
Jane may refer to:
* Jane (given name), a feminine given name
* Jane (surname), related to the given name
Film and television
* ''Jane'' (1915 film), a silent comedy film directed by Frank Lloyd
* ''Jane'' (2016 film), a South Korean drama fil ...
and
Thomas Papillon
Thomas Papillon (6 September 1623 – 5 May 1702) was an English merchant and politician, an influential figure in the City of London for half a century. He served as a Commissioner for the Victualling of the Navy from 1689 to 1699.
Early life ...
. They had nine surviving children, four sons and five daughters. Two of the sons were eminent lawyers. The eldest, Edward, rebuilt Stoke Doyle church and erected in it a monument to his father. Jane, the eldest daughter, married Thomas Hunt of
Boreatton, in the parish of
Baschurch
Baschurch is a large village and civil parish in Shropshire, England.
It lies in North Shropshire, north-west of Shrewsbury. The village has a population of 2,503 as of the 2011 census. The village has strong links to Shrewsbury to the south-e ...
,
Shropshire
Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...
, and was ancestress of the Ward-Hunt family. Another son,
Thomas
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
, was the consul-general to Russia and agent of the
Russia Company
The Muscovy Company (also called the Russia Company or the Muscovy Trading Company russian: Московская компания, Moskovskaya kompaniya) was an English trading company chartered in 1555. It was the first major chartered joint s ...
. He died suddenly in Moscow in February 1731.
References
*
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Edward
1638 births
1714 deaths
English barristers
17th-century English judges
Chief Barons of the Exchequer
People from Rutland
Knights Bachelor
18th-century English judges