Colonial Despatches

Sir Henry George Ward was born in London on 27 February 1797. He was educated at Harrow and sent to Europe to study languages, and in 1816 he became attaché to the British legation at Stockholm. He was transferred to the Hague in 1818 and to Madrid in 1819, before travelling to Mexico as minister plenipotentiary in 1823 and 1825.1

Retiring from the diplomatic service in 1827, Ward entered the House of Commons in 1832, representing St. Albans from 1832 to 1837 and Sheffield from 1837 to 1849. He was made a GCMG in 1849 and, in May of that year, accepted the position of lord high commissioner of the Ionian islands. He remained there until 13 April 1855, when he became governor of Ceylon [Sri Lanka].In June 1860 he was appointed governor of Madras but fell ill with cholera almost immediately after his arrival and died on 2 August 1860.2

• 1. A. A. D. Seymour, Ward, Sir Henry George, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• 2. Ibid.