Herbert Foster Ward (24 March 1873 – 6 June 1897) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for two seasons with

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

, and a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er who played as a right-handed batsman for

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

Football career

Born in

Hammersmith Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. ...

, he attended

Bruce Castle School Bruce Castle School, at Bruce Castle, Tottenham, was a progressive school for boys established in 1827 as an extension of Rowland Hill's Hazelwood School at Edgbaston. It closed in 1891. Origins In 1819, Rowland Hill moved his father's Hill Top ...

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

, before training as a schoolteacher. His teaching career took him to Handel College in

. He joined Southampton St. Mary's initially as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and played in the Saints' two

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

qualifying matches in November as well as friendlies and local cup matches. In

1894 Events January–March * January 4 – A military alliance is established between the French Third Republic and the Russian Empire. * January 7 – William Kennedy Dickson receives a patent for motion picture film in the United S ...

Southampton were founder members of the Southern League. In the inaugural season Ward was asked to take over the role of

centre forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

. According to Holley & Chalk's "Alphabet of the Saints" he was "''a tireless worker at all times''"; he was joint top-scorer (with Charles Baker and Jack Angus) for the team for the 1894–95 season with six league goals from only nine appearances, and his goalscoring abilities earned him five Hampshire County caps, two as captain. He also made six FA Cup appearances, scoring six goals, including three in a 14–0 defeat of Newbury at the

Antelope Ground The Antelope Ground, Southampton was a sports ground that was the first home of both Hampshire County Cricket Club, who played there prior to 1884, and of Southampton Football Club, who played there from 1887 to 1896 as "Southampton St. Mary's ...

on 13 October 1894; this is still Southampton's biggest victory in a competitive match. Saints reached the first round proper for the first time, going out 1–4 to

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

opponents

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, with Ward scoring Saints' consolation goal.

Cricket career

In 1895 he quit football to concentrate on his cricket career. Ward made his

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

debut for Hampshire in the first match the team played in the competition during

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

. The team acquitted themselves well, finishing in tenth place, with six wins under their belt, and Ward with three half-centuries, his first coming in the first match of the season, against

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. This score of 71 was the highest score of his season, not bettered until he scored his first of two career centuries, against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in May 1896. Ward was a frequent participant in the 1896 County Championship season, leading the Hampshire attack, along with former

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

player, and future Hampshire captain, Charles Robson, who was also the secretary/manager of Southampton Football Club. Ward bowled frequently for Hampshire in his later seasons, picking up nineteen wickets for the team, including a best bowling analysis of 4–17 against

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

in July 1896. Hampshire finished ninth in the

1897 County Championship The 1897 County Championship was the eighth officially organised running of the County Championship, and ran from 3 May to 30 August 1897. Lancashire County Cricket Club won the championship for the first time, narrowly beating Surrey. Table * On ...

table, with a negative finishing percentage. Ward died just seventeen days after his final County Cricket match, still in full flow of the 1897 cricket season, at the age of 24, possibly a club record for the shortest amount of time between an individual's final first-class fixture and their death. At first the cause of death was presumed to be

sunstroke Heat stroke or heatstroke, also known as sun stroke, is a severe heat illness that results in a body temperature greater than , along with red skin, headache, dizziness, and confusion. Sweating is generally present in exertional heatstroke, b ...

but it was subsequently diagnosed as

typhoid fever Typhoid fever, also known as typhoid, is a disease caused by '' Salmonella'' serotype Typhi bacteria. Symptoms vary from mild to severe, and usually begin six to 30 days after exposure. Often there is a gradual onset of a high fever over several ...

. Herbert's brother, Charles Ward, cousin Leonard Ward and uncle Charles Ward were all first-class cricketers.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Herbert 1873 births Footballers from Hammersmith 1897 deaths People educated at Bruce Castle School English cricketers Hampshire cricketers English men's footballers Southampton F.C. players Southern Football League players Deaths from typhoid fever Infectious disease deaths in England Men's association football forwards