William Ward (missionary)
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William Ward (1769–1823) was an
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
pioneer
Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...
, author, printer and translator.


Early life

Ward was born at
Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
on 20 October 1769, and was the son of John Ward, a carpenter and builder of that town, and grandson of Thomas Ward, a farmer at Stretton, near
Burton upon Trent Burton upon Trent, also known as Burton-on-Trent or simply Burton, is a market town in the borough of East Staffordshire in the county of Staffordshire, England, close to the border with Derbyshire. In United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011, it had a ...
in
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
. His father died while he was a child, and the care of his upbringing fell to his mother. He was placed with a schoolmaster named Congreve, near Derby, and afterwards with another named Breary. On leaving school he was apprenticed to a Derby printer and bookseller Drewry, with whom he continued two years after the expiration of his indentures, assisting him to edit the ''
Derby Mercury The ''Derby Mercury'' was a local, broadsheet newspaper, based in Derby, 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 ra ...
''. He then removed to
Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...
, where he assisted Joshua Drewry, a relative of his former master, to edit the '' Staffordshire Advertiser'' and in either 1794 or 1795 proceeded to Hull, where he followed his business as a printer, and was for some time editor of the '' Hull Advertiser''.


Religion

Ward early in life became a
Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
, and on 26 August 1796 he was baptised at Hull. Preaching constantly in the neighbouring villages, he became known as a man of promise, and, with the assistance of a member of the Baptist community named Fishwick, he proceeded in August 1797 to Ewood Hall, near Halifax in Yorkshire, the theological academy of John Fawcett (1740–1817), where he studied for a year and a half.


Missionary work

In the autumn of 1798, the Baptist mission committee visited Ewood, and Ward offered himself as a missionary, influenced perhaps by a remark made to him in 1793 by William Carey concerning the need for a printer in the Indian mission field. Ward sailed from England in the ''Criterion'' in May 1799, in company with
Joshua Marshman Joshua Marshman (20 April 1768 – 6 December 1837) was a British Christian missionary in Bengal, India. His mission involved social reforms and intellectual debates with educated Hindus such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Origins Joshua Marshman was b ...
. On arriving at
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
he was prevented from joining Carey by an order from the Government, and was thereby obliged to proceed to the
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
settlement of
Serampore Serampore (also called ''Serampur'', ''Srirampur'', ''Srirampore'', ''Shreerampur'', ''Shreerampore'', ''Shrirampur'' or ''Shrirampore'') is a city of Hooghly district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarter of the Srirampor ...
, where he was joined by Carey. In India, Ward's time was chiefly occupied in overseeing the community's printing press, which was used to disseminate the scriptures, once they had been translated into Bengáli, Mahratta, Tamil, and twenty-three other languages. Numerous philological works were also issued and Ward still found time to both keep a copious diary and to preach the gospel to the natives. On 10 May 1802 he was married at Serampore to the widow of John Fountain, another missionary, by whom he left two daughters. Until 1806, he made frequent tours amongst the towns and villages of the province, but after that year the increasing claims of the press on his time, and the extension of the missionary labours in Serampore and Calcutta, prevented him quitting headquarters. In 1812 the printing office was destroyed by fire. It contained the types of all the scriptures that had been printed, to the value of at least ten thousand pounds. The moulds for casting fresh type, however, were recovered from the débris, and with the help of friends in Great Britain the loss was soon repaired.


Serampore College

In 1818, Ward, having been for some time in bad health, revisited England. Here he was entrusted with the task of pleading for funds with which to endow a new college at Serampore which he had founded along with
Joshua Marshman Joshua Marshman (20 April 1768 – 6 December 1837) was a British Christian missionary in Bengal, India. His mission involved social reforms and intellectual debates with educated Hindus such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy. Origins Joshua Marshman was b ...
and William Carey, for the purpose of instructing natives in European literature and science. He undertook a series of journeys throughout England and Scotland, and also visited Holland and North Germany. In October 1820 he embarked for New York, and travelled through the United States, returning to England in April 1821. On 28 May he sailed for India in the ''Alberta'', carrying funds for Serampore College; as a result, Ward, Marshman and Carey became known as the
Serampore trio The Serampore Trio was the name given to three pioneering English missionaries, namely William Carey (1761-1834), Joshua Marshman, (1768-1837), and William Ward (1769-1823). William Carey arrived in Bengal in 1793 and Marshman and Ward arrived ...
.


Death

Ward died of
cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...
at Serampore on 7 March 1823, and was interred in the mission burial-ground.


Written works

Besides his sermons, Ward was also the author of: *'Account of the Writings, Religion, and Manners of the Hindoos,’ Serampúr, 1811, 4 vols. 4to; 5th edit., abridged, Madras, 1863, 8vo. *'Farewell Letters in Britain and America on returning to Bengal in 1821,’ London, 1821, 12mo; 2nd edit. 1821. *'Brief Memoir of Krishna-Pal, the first Hindoo, in Bengal, who broke the Chain of the Cast by embracing the Gospel;’ 2nd edit., London, 1823, 12mo. He was also the author of several sonnets and short poems which were printed as an appendix to a memoir of him by Samuel Stennett. A portrait, engraved by R. Baker from a painting by Overton, is prefixed to the same work.


Sources

*Stennett's "Memoirs of the Life of William Ward", 1825; *"Memoir of William Ward", Philadelphia; *Simpson's Life prefixed to "View of History, Literature, and Religion of the Hindoos" 1863 * *Marshman'
"Carey, Marshman, and Ward"
1864
Full text of ''Memoir of the Rev. William Ward''
American Sunday School Union, 1828.


External links



{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, William 1769 births 1823 deaths 19th-century Baptists Baptist missionaries in India Burials in West Bengal English Baptist missionaries English sermon writers Founders of Indian schools and colleges Missionary educators People from Derby Translators of the Bible into Bengali Deaths from cholera British people in colonial India Missionary linguists Scholars from West Bengal