Mary Ward (scientist)
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Mary Ward (''née'' King; 27 April 1827 – 31 August 1869) was an
Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...
naturalist, astronomer, microscopist, author, and artist. She was killed when she fell under the wheels of an experimental
steam car A steam car is a car (automobile) propelled by a steam engine. A steam engine is an external combustion engine (ECE) in which the fuel is combusted outside of the engine, unlike an internal combustion engine (ICE) in which fuel is combusted ins ...
built by her cousins. As the event occurred in 1869, she is the first person known to have been killed by a motor vehicle.Although some sources assert Mary Rose to be the first person killed by a motor vehicle, a
steam carriage Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. ...
fatal accident in July 1834 preceded Rose's demise. In the 1834 event, a steam carriage constructed by
John Scott Russell John Scott Russell FRSE FRS FRSA (9 May 1808, Parkhead, Glasgow – 8 June 1882, Ventnor, Isle of Wight) was a Scottish civil engineer, naval architect and shipbuilder who built '' Great Eastern'' in collaboration with Isambard Kingdom Brunel. ...
and operating a public transport service between Glasgow and Paisley overturned, causing a boiler explosion which killed four or five passengers and injured others. Russell's carriage comprised a steam engine pulling a combined passenger and fuel tender; Mary Rose's accident may be characterised as the first fatality involving a vehicle in the form of a contemporary motorcar, in which the engine is mounted and passengers ride on the same frame.


Early life

She was born Mary King in Ballylin near present-day
Ferbane Ferbane (; ) is a town on the north bank of the River Brosna in County Offaly, Ireland, between Birr and Athlone at the junction of the N62 National secondary road and the R436 regional road. The name of the town is said to come from the w ...
,
County Offaly County Offaly (; ga, Contae Uíbh Fhailí) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the province of Leinster. It is named after the ancient Kingdom of Uí Failghe. It was formerly known as King's County, in hono ...
, on 27 April 1827, the youngest child of the Reverend Henry King and his wife Harriette. She and her sisters were educated at home, as were most girls at the time. However, her education was slightly different from the norm because she was of a renowned scientific family. She was interested in nature from an early age, and by the time she was three years old she was collecting
insect Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
s.


Interests

Ward was a keen amateur astronomer, sharing this interest with her cousin
William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse William Parsons, 3rd Earl of Rosse (17 June 1800 – 31 October 1867), was an Irish astronomer, naturalist, and engineer. He was president of the Royal Society (UK), the most important association of naturalists in the world in the nineteenth ...
. Parsons built the
Leviathan of Parsonstown Leviathan of Parsonstown, or Rosse six-foot telescope, is a historic reflecting telescope of aperture, which was the largest telescope in the world from 1845 until the construction of the Hooker Telescope in California in 1917. The Rosse six-f ...
, a
reflecting telescope A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternati ...
with a six-foot mirror which remained the world's largest until 1917. Ward was a frequent visitor to Birr Castle, producing sketches of each stage of the process. Along with photographs made by Parson's wife
Mary Rosse Mary Parsons, Countess of Rosse (; 14 April 1813 – 1885), was an Anglo-Irish amateur astronomer, architect, furniture designer, and pioneering photographer. Often known simply as Mary Rosse, she was one of the early practitioners of making pho ...
, Ward's sketches were used to aid in the restoration of the telescope. Ward also drew insects, and the astronomer
James South Sir James South FRS FRSE PRAS FLS LLD (October 1785 – 19 October 1867) was a British astronomer. He was a joint founder of the Astronomical Society of London, and it was under his name, as President of the Society in 1831, that a petiti ...
observed her doing so one day. She was using a magnifying glass to see the tiny details, and her drawing so impressed him that he immediately persuaded her father to buy her a
microscope A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...
. A compound microscope made by Andrew Ross (model 112) was purchased for £48 12s 8d. This was the beginning of a lifelong passion. She began to read everything she could find about
microscopy Microscopy is the technical field of using microscopes to view objects and areas of objects that cannot be seen with the naked eye (objects that are not within the resolution range of the normal eye). There are three well-known branches of micr ...
, and taught herself until she had an expert knowledge. She made her own slides from slivers of ivory, as glass was difficult to obtain, and prepared her own specimens. The physicist
David Brewster Sir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA Scot FSSA MICE (11 December 178110 February 1868) was a British scientist, inventor, author, and academic administrator. In science he is principally remembered for his experimental work in physical optics ...
asked her to make his microscope specimens, and used her drawings in many of his books and articles.


Distinctions

Universities and most societies would not accept women, but Ward obtained information any way she could. She wrote frequently to scientists, asking them about papers they had published. During 1848, Parsons was made president of the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
. Parsons, to recall, was Ward's cousin and visits to his London home meant that she met many scientists. She was one of only three women on the mailing list for the
Royal Astronomical Society (Whatever shines should be observed) , predecessor = , successor = , formation = , founder = , extinction = , merger = , merged = , type = NGO ...
(the others were
Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
and
Mary Somerville Mary Somerville (; , formerly Greig; 26 December 1780 – 29 November 1872) was a Scottish scientist, writer, and polymath. She studied mathematics and astronomy, and in 1835 she and Caroline Herschel were elected as the first female Honorary ...
, a scientist for whom
Somerville College Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...
at
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
was named).


Marriage

On 6 December 1854, she married Henry Ward of
Castle Ward A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
, County Down, who in 1881 succeeded to the title of Viscount Bangor. They had three sons and five daughters, including
Maxwell Ward, 6th Viscount Bangor Maxwell Richard Crosbie Ward, 6th Viscount Bangor (4 May 1868 – 17 November 1950), was an Irish peer and politician. Early life and education Ward was born to Henry Ward, 5th Viscount Bangor, and his first wife, scientific illustrator Mary Wa ...
. Her best-known descendants are her grandson Edward Ward, the foreign correspondent and seventh viscount, and his daughter, the ''
Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series depicts the adventures of a Time Lord called the Doctor, an extraterrestrial being who appears to be human. The Doctor explores the u ...
'' actress
Lalla Ward Sarah Jill "Lalla" Ward (born 28 June 1951) is an English actress, voice artist and author. She is best known for playing the role of Romana II in the BBC television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1979 to 1981. Career Early career Ward's stage na ...
.


Publications

When Ward wrote her first book, ''Sketches with the microscope'' (privately printed in 1857), she apparently believed that no one would print it because of her gender or lack of academic credentials. She published 250 copies of it privately, and several hundred handbills were distributed to advertise it. The printing sold during the next few weeks, and this was enough to make a London publisher take the risk and contract for future publication. The book was reprinted eight times between 1858 and 1880 as ''A World of Wonders Revealed by the Microscope''. A new full-colour facsimile edition at €20 was published in September 2019 by the Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society, with accompanying essays. (). Her books are: ''A Windfall for the Microscope'' (1856), ''A World of Wonders, Revealed by the Microscope'' (1857), ''Entomology in Sport, and Entomology in Earnest'' (1857, with Lady Jane Mahon), ''Microscope Teachings'' (1864), ''Telescope Teachings'' (1859). She illustrated her books and articles herself, as well as many books and papers by other scientists.


Death

Ward is the first known automobile fatality. William Parsons' sons had built a steam-powered car;It was thought at the time that steam transport would be developed greatly during the near future (this was true for trains, but did not in fact become true for cars until the development of
internal combustion engine An internal combustion engine (ICE or IC engine) is a heat engine in which the combustion of a fuel occurs with an oxidizer (usually air) in a combustion chamber that is an integral part of the working fluid flow circuit. In an internal combus ...
s). Steam cars were heavy and they did too much damage to the already uneven roads. In 1865 the
Red Flag Act The Locomotive Acts (or Red Flag Acts) were a series of Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom regulating the use of mechanically propelled vehicles on British public highways during the latter part of the 19th century. The first three, the Lo ...
imposed a speed limit of four miles per hour for the countryside and two miles per hour in towns. This effectively ended the popularity of motorcars, but some enthusiasts still had one, often homemade, like the Parsons' vehicle.
on 31 August 1869, she and her husband,
Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
, were travelling in it with the Parsons boys (the Hons Richard Clere Parsons and the future
steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...
pioneer
Charles Algernon Parsons Sir Charles Algernon Parsons, (13 June 1854 – 11 February 1931) was an Anglo-Irish engineer, best known for his invention of the compound steam turbine, and as the eponym of C. A. Parsons and Company. He worked as an engineer on dy ...
) and their tutor, Richard Biggs. She was thrown from the car on a bend in the road at
Parsonstown Birr (; ga, Biorra, meaning "plain of water") is a town in County Offaly, Ireland. Between 1620 and 1899 it was called Parsonstown, after the Parsons family who were local landowners and hereditary Earls of Rosse. Birr is a designated Iris ...
(present-day Birr, County Offaly). She fell under its wheels and died almost instantly. A doctor who lived near the scene arrived within moments, and found her cut, bruised, and bleeding from the ears. The fatal injury was a broken neck. It is believed that the grieving family destroyed the car after the crash.


Legacy

Ward's microscope, accessories, slides and books are on display in her husband's home,
Castle Ward A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
,
County Down County Down () is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. It covers an area of and has a population of 531,665. It borders County Antrim to the ...
. William Parsons' home at Birr Castle, County Offaly, is also open to the public. Her great-granddaughter is the English actress and author
Lalla Ward Sarah Jill "Lalla" Ward (born 28 June 1951) is an English actress, voice artist and author. She is best known for playing the role of Romana II in the BBC television series ''Doctor Who'' from 1979 to 1981. Career Early career Ward's stage na ...
.


See also

*
Bridget Driscoll The death of Bridget Driscoll (c. 185117 August 1896) was the first recorded case of a pedestrian killed in a collision with a motor car in Great Britain. Driscoll, in the company of her teenage daughter May and her friend Elizabeth Murphy, was ...
– (born in Ireland, 1851/1852–1896) first pedestrian death by automobile in Great Britain *
Henry H. Bliss The death of Henry Hale Bliss (June 13, 1830 – September 14, 1899) was the first recorded instance of a person being killed in a motor vehicle collision in the United States. Death On September 13, 1899, at West 74th Street and Central Pa ...
– (1830–1899) first automobile death in the Americas


Further reading

* ''The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Volume IV, Irish Women's Writing and Traditions'', p. 653, edited by Angela Bourke et al., NYU Press, 2002
''The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing''
– a short biography and an overview of further work. * ''A Pair of New Eyes'', a play by A. L. Mentxaka, deals with the life of Mary Ward and her friendship with the pioneer photographer, designer, and architect
Mary Rosse Mary Parsons, Countess of Rosse (; 14 April 1813 – 1885), was an Anglo-Irish amateur astronomer, architect, furniture designer, and pioneering photographer. Often known simply as Mary Rosse, she was one of the early practitioners of making pho ...
(née Field). – the play was premiered at the Sean O'Casey Theatre Dublin on 5 November 2013. A second production was staged in
Smock Alley Theatre Since the 17th century, there have been numerous theatres in Dublin with the name Smock Alley. The current Smock Alley Theatre () is a 21st-century theatre in Dublin, converted from a 19th-century church building, incorporating structural mat ...
Dublin in August 2014. * Article in August bank holiday 2019 edition of the Irish Examine
''Did you know''


Notes


References


External links

*
Entomology in sport : and Entomology in earnest
(1859) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Mary (scientist) 1827 births 1869 deaths Irish writers Irish astronomers Irish entomologists Women entomologists Irish women scientists 19th-century women scientists Road incident deaths in the Republic of Ireland Irish women artists People from County Offaly 19th-century Irish scientists 19th-century astronomers Women astronomers