John Hubert Ward

Major Sir John Hubert Ward, KCVO (20 March 1870 – 2 December 1938) was a British army officer and courtier.[1]

The Honourable

Sir John Hubert Ward

KCVO
Personal details
Born20 March 1870
Scotland
Died2 December 1938 (1938-12-03) (aged 68)
London, England
NationalityBritish
Spouse(s)
​
​
(m. 1908; his death 1938)​
Children2
ParentsWilliam Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley
Georgina Ward, Countess of Dudley
EducationEton College
Military service
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch/service British Army
Worcestershire Yeomanry
RankMajor
Battles/warsSecond Boer War
First World War

Early life

Ward was the second son of William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley by his wife Georgina Elizabeth née Moncreiffe.[2] His paternal grandfather was William Humble Ward, 10th Baron Ward and his maternal grandfather was Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, 7th Baronet.[3][4]

Following his father's death in 1885, his brother, William Humble Ward, succeeded as the 2nd Earl of Dudley. His other siblings included Robert Ward, a member of parliament for Crewe.[3] All six sons of the 1st Earl received half a million dollars upon their father's death.[1]

Ward was educated at Eton College.[3]

Career

He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Worcestershire Yeomanry (The Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars) on 11 January 1900,[5] and served in the Second Boer War 1900–1901, as an aide to Major Gen. John Palmer Brabazon.[1][6] He was promoted to lieutenant, and later fought in the First World War and gained the rank of major.[7][8]

In 1901, Ward was the Assistant Private Secretary to the Financial Secretary to the War Office, Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby. Ward served as an Equerry to four successive British monarchs.[9] He was appointed Equerry to King Edward VII 28 February 1902,[10][11] and served until the King's death in 1910. He was then an Extra Equerry to King George V 1910–1936, to King Edward VIII in 1936, and to King George VI from 1937 until the following year, when he died.[3][1]

Personal life
Ward's wife, Jean Templeton Reid.

Ward's engagement to Jean Templeton Reid (1884–1962)[12] was announced in April 1908.[13][11] She was the daughter of Whitelaw Reid, American ambassador to the United Kingdom,[14] sister of Ogden Mills Reid, a New York publisher, the granddaughter of Darius Ogden Mills, an American financier, and the niece of Ogden Mills, a prominent New York Society man.[15][16] Ward and Reid met through George Holford, also equerry-in-waiting to the King.[17]

On 23 June 1908, the 38-year-old Ward married Reid at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace in a ceremony attended by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.[17] The wedding was celebrated at Dorchester House, and was one of the greatest society events of the year.[18] Together, the couple had two sons:[3]

  • Edward John Sutton Ward, MC (1909–1990), who married Margaret Susan Corbett (d. 1981) in 1934. After her death, he married Marion Elizabeth Jessie Clover (d. 1997), the former wife of William Romilly, 4th Baron Romilly, in 1986.[3] His godfather was King Edward VII.[19]
  • Alexander Reginald Ward (1914–1987), a Justice of the Peace for Berkshire between 1941 and 1947, who married Ilona Hollos in 1946.[20] They divorced in 1959 and he married Zena Moyra Marshall in 1967. They divorced 1969 and he married Constance Cluett Sage.[3]

The Wards had a country estate, known as Chilton, in Hungerford, Berkshire.[1] Ward died at his home, Dudley House in London, on 2 December 1938.[1] Lady Ward died in 1962.[12]

Awards and honours

He was decorated with the award of the Officer of French Legion of Honour, Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic of Spain, Commander of the Order of Zähringer Löwen of Baden, and Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog of Denmark.[3]

Ward was also invested as a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and as an Officer of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem.[3]

References
  1. Times, Special to the New York (3 December 1938). "SIR JOHN WARD, 68, IS DEAD IN LONDON; Whitelaw Reid's Son-in-Law Had Served Four British Sovereigns as Equerry ROYALTY AT HIS MARRIAGE Boer and World Wars Veteran Had Been Decorated by France and Italy King Pleased by Marriage Son of First Earl Member of Victorian Order". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  2. "REID WON FAME IN MANY FIELDS; Had Been a Journalist Half a Century – Diplomat in Two European Capitals". The New York Times. 16 December 1912. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  3. Mosley, Charles (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd. p. 1190. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  4. Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1895). Armorial Families: A Complete Peerage, Baronetage, and Knightage, and a Directory of Some Gentlemen of Coat-armour, and Being the First Attempt to Show which Arms in Use at the Moment are Borne by Legal Authority. Jack. p. 316. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  5. "No. 27156". The London Gazette. 23 January 1900. p. 435.
  6. "The Boer Wars – Personalities – Second Boer War – Major-General John Palmer Brabazon". boer-war.com. Boer-War.com. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  7. "Medal card of Ward, John H Corps: King's Messenger Rank: Captain". Government of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  8. "John H Ward – WW1 Memorial and Life Story". livesofthefirstworldwar.org. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  9. Otte, T. G. (2016). An Historian in Peace and War: The Diaries of Harold Temperley. Routledge. p. 229. ISBN 9781317181934. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  10. "No. 27411". The London Gazette. 28 February 1902. p. 1281.
  11. "KING EDWARD A GUEST IN HONOR OF MISS REID; Attends Engagement Dinner Given by Earl and Countess of Dudley. QUEEN WAS ALSO PRESENT The Affair Was a Court Function and Was Followed by a Large Dance". The New York Times. 22 May 1908. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  12. "LADY WARD DEAD; AIDED CHARITIES; Daughter of Whitelaw Reid Was 78—Wed in Palace". The New York Times. 3 May 1962. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  13. "AMBASSADOR REID'S DAUGHTER ENGAGED; Formally Announced by Her Parents She Will Wed the Hon. John Hubert Ward. EARL OF DUDLEY'S BROTHER Equerry in Waiting to King, Racing Man, Sportsman, and Six Feet High – Wedding This Summer. Bingham Accused of Contempt". The New York Times. 30 April 1908. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  14. Times, Marconi Transatlantic Wireless Telegraph to the New York (16 December 1912). "WHITELAW REID DIES IN LONDON; Editor and Diplomat Passes Away at Dorchester House After Brief Illness". The New York Times. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  15. "REID-MILLS.; DR. MORGAN CONDUCTS THE CEREMONY AT MR. D.O. MILLS'S HOUSE". The New York Times. 27 April 1881. Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  16. College, Radcliffe (1971). Notable American Women, 1607–1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Harvard University Press. p. 132. ISBN 9780674627345. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  17. "MISS REID MARRIED AT ST. JAMES'S; To Mr. Ward, the Bridegroom, the King Says, "Well Done, Johnny." QUEEN KISSES THE BRIDE Brilliant Assemblage in the Chapel Royal and at Dorchester House Afterward". The New York Times. 24 June 1908. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  18. "MISS REID DISPLAYS 2,000 RICH PRESENTS; The President's Gift Is a Rare Old Dutch Book on America. HAS THE PLACE OF HONOR The King's Bracelet and J.P. Morgan's Necklace Lie in the Same Case – The Queen's Bracelet Near By". The New York Times. 23 June 1908. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  19. "KING EDWARD AS GODFATHER.; Suggests That Ward Christening Take Place in Chapel Royal". The New York Times. 7 April 1909. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
  20. "ILONA HOLLOS A. BRIDE; Wed in London to Alexander R. Ward, Whitelaw Reid Kin". The New York Times. 25 April 1946. Retrieved 15 November 2017.
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