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ward - 23 reference results
ward. 1 In English history, see hundred. 2 In law, see guardian and ward. 3 In local government, see city government.
guardian and ward, in law. A guardian is someone who by appointment or by relationship has the care of a person or that person's property, or both. The protected individual, known as the ward, is considered legally incapable of acting for himself or herself; examples are a child (see infancy) or an individual suffering from a serious mental illness. The question of guardianship most commonly arises in relation to children, where there is parental abuse, neglect, drug dependency, or divorce (in which case reposing custody in one parent or the other generally becomes the issue). In Anglo-American law, the three principal classes of guardianship over children are testamentary, by nature, and by judicial appointment. In the first, statutes give parents the right to appoint a guardian by will. Guardianship by nature is the natural guardianship arising out of the relation of parent and child. A guardian by judicial appointment is one named by a court with jurisdiction over such relations. When no testamentary guardian has been appointed by the will of a deceased parent, a court may appoint a guardian for the children. The selection of a guardian, if not made by the parent, is generally at the discretion of the ward if over a certain age, but may be set aside if the court considers the guardian to be an imprudent choice. A guardian is held to the standards of a fiduciary in relations with the ward.
Ward, William George, 1812-82, English Roman Catholic apologist, educated at Oxford. He became (1834) a fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, and was ordained in the Church of England. At first a Broad Churchman, he joined the Oxford movement in 1838. Thereafter he became the most extreme of his group, and as a result of his vigorous support of Tract 90 he lost his teaching positions in the university. His long work, The Ideal of a Christian Church (1844), which compared all churches in England unfavorably with the Roman Catholic Church, brought his official degradation from his university degrees (1854); he was soon afterward received into the Roman Catholic Church, where he remained a layman. Ward was lecturer in moral theology in St. Edmund's College, Ware, from 1851 to 1858. From 1863 to 1878 he edited the Dublin Review. He was uncompromising in his religious views, especially with respect to Ultramontanism. He was an eager and hasty controversialist, and his metaphysical subtlety made him a formidable opponent. Ward's friends included men of very divergent opinions.

His son Wilfrid Philip Ward, 1856-1916, was his father's biographer (1893). He also wrote a biography of Cardinal Newman and accounts of Cardinal Wiseman and Aubrey de Vere. Wilfrid Philip Ward, like his father, opposed liberalism in the church but, unlike him, took a more conciliatory position, notably in the modernist controversy. He edited the Dublin Review from 1906. William George Ward's third son, Bernard Nicholas Ward, 1857-1920, was a distinguished churchman; he was president of St. Edmund's College, Ware, and first bishop of Brentwood. He wrote on the history of the Roman Catholic Church in England.

See M. Ward, The Wilfrid Wards and the Transition (2 vol., 1934-37).

Ward, Mrs. Humphry, 1851-1920, English novelist, whose maiden name was Mary Augusta Arnold; granddaughter of Thomas Arnold. She was born in Tasmania but was brought to England and grew up in Oxford; there, in 1872, she married Thomas Humphry Ward, an editor of the Oxford Spectator. Her first publications were translations of Spanish literature and a children's book, Millie and Olly (1881). Robert Elsmere (1888), a story defending an ethical rather than mystical interpretation of the Bible, made her reputation. Her novels dramatized her view concerning the social application of religious belief and included Fenwick's Career (1906) and The Case of Richard Meynell (1911). Mrs. Ward was also a dedicated social worker; her achievements include the founding of the Invalid Children's School in 1891.

See her autobiography, A Writer's Recollections (1918); biographies by her daughter, J. P. Trevelyan (1923), and E. H. Jones (1973).

Ward, Lester Frank, 1841-1913, American sociologist and paleontologist, b. Joliet, Ill. Largely self-educated, he eventually took degrees in medicine and law. He worked as a government geologist and paleontologist from 1881 to 1906, when he became professor of sociology at Brown. One of the first and most important of American sociologists, Ward developed a theory of planned progress called telesis, whereby man, through education and development of intellect, could direct social evolution. His theories and those of his contemporary, William Graham Sumner, represent two main trends in 19th-century American sociology. Among his important works are Dynamic Sociology (1883), Psychic Factors of Civilization (1893), Pure Sociology (1903), and Glimpses of the Cosmos (6 vol., 1913-18).

See S. Chugerman, Lester F. Ward, the American Aristotle (1939, repr. 1965).

Ward, John Quincy Adams, 1830-1910, American sculptor, b. Urbana, Ohio. He was trained under H. K. Brown, whom he assisted in the execution of the equestrian statue of George Washington in New York City. His Indian Hunter (1864) was the first of many works for Central Park, New York City. His later commissions were for portrait statues and monuments. These include the equestrian statue of General Thomas, the Garfield monument, and General Sherman, Washington, D.C.; Lafayette, Burlington, Vt.; George Washington, in front of the Subtreasury, and Horace Greeley, New York. In 1903, with the collaboration of P. W. Bartlett, he made the pediment sculptures for the New York Stock Exchange. His work is marked by liveliness and strength. He was a founder and president of the National Sculpture Society (1893-1904) and president of the National Academy of Design (1874). His brother Edgar Melville Ward, 1839-1915, was a genre painter; his Coppersmith is housed in the Metropolitan Museum.

See A. Adams, John Quincy Adams Ward (1912).

Ward, Frederick Townsend, 1831-62, American adventurer, b. Salem, Mass. A soldier of fortune, he served with William Walker in Nicaragua and with the French forces in the Crimean War. Ward arrived in Shanghai in 1859, when the Taiping Rebellion was at its height. Hired by the Chinese authorities to help quell it, he raised troops, cleared the Shanghai area of rebels, and won many successes near Shanghai and Ningpo. Killed in an attack, he was buried in a tomb at Sungkiang, which had been his headquarters. His armed force became the nucleus of the victorious army of Charles George Gordon (Chinese Gordon).
Ward, Edgar Melville: see Ward, John Quincy Adams.
Ward, Bernard Nicholas: see Ward, William George.
Ward, Barbara Mary, Baroness Jackson of Lodsworth, 1914-81, British writer. Educated at the Sorbonne and at Oxford, she joined the staff of the Economist in 1939 and became foreign editor in 1940. From 1946 to 1950 she served as a governor of the British Broadcasting Corp. From 1968 to 1973 she was Schweitzer professor of international economic development at Columbia Univ. Among her several popular and penetrating works on international relations are The West at Bay (1948), Policy for the West (1951), The Interplay of East and West (1957; new ed. with new epilogue, 1962), The Rich Nations and the Poor Nations (1962), and Nationalism and Ideology (1966); she edited, with others, The Widening Gap (1971). Ward stressed the need for unity and farsighted ideals in the West and for understanding and liberal economic and political policies toward developing nations. She was created a life peer in 1976.
Ward, Artemus, pseud. of Charles Farrar Browne, 1834-67, American humorist, b. Waterford, Maine. As a reporter on the Cleveland Plain Dealer, he began in 1858 a series of "Artemus Ward's Letters" that made him famous on both sides of the Atlantic. The letters were supposedly written by a carnival manager who commented on current events in a New England dialect that was augmented by bad grammar and misspelled words. In 1859, Browne joined the staff of the New York humorous weekly Vanity Fair and later turned successfully to lecturing.

See his Selected Works (ed. by A. J. Nock, 1924); biography by J. C. Austin (1964).

Ward, Artemas, 1727-1800, American general in the American Revolution, b. Shrewsbury, Mass. He was active in colonial politics and served in the French and Indian War. As head of the Massachusetts troops during the revolution, he was chief commander at the siege of Boston (1775) until the arrival of George Washington. After the withdrawal of the main army to New York he was commander at Boston until Mar., 1777. Later he served in the Continental Congress (1780-81) and the U.S. Congress (1791-95).

See biography by C. Martyn (1921, repr. 1970).

Radcliffe, Ann (Ward), 1764-1823, English novelist, b. London. The daughter of a successful tradesman, she married William Radcliffe, a law student who later became editor of the English Chronicle. Her best works, The Romance of the Forest (1791), The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), and The Italian (1797), give her a prominent place in the tradition of the Gothic romance. Her excellent use of landscape to create mood and her sense of mystery and suspense had an enormous influence on later writers, particularly Walter Scott.

See studies by C. F. McIntyre (1920, repr. 1970) and E. B. Murray (1972).

O'Malley, Frank Ward, 1875-1932, American newspaperman, b. Pittston, Pa. As reporter (1906-19) for the New York Sun he was especially noted for his stories of humor and pathos. Among his books is The Swiss Family O'Malley (1928).
McAllister, Ward (Samuel Ward McAllister), 1827-95, American society leader, b. Savannah, Ga. He was a wealthy San Francisco lawyer, who moved (1852) to New York City and married (1853) a millionaire's daughter. He established a second residence at Newport, R.I., and soon became the arbiter of the New York and Newport social set. McAllister chose (1872) the "patriarchs," a group of leaders from prominent New York families, and sifted out (1892) the Four Hundred—people whom he deemed members of "true" New York society. It was McAllister who groomed the famous Mrs. William Astor for her role as queen of New York society. He wrote Society as I Have Found It (1890).
Howe, Julia Ward, 1819-1910, American author and social reformer, b. New York City. She assisted her husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, in his philanthropic projects and in editing the Boston Commonwealth, an abolitionist paper. Her first book of poetry was published in 1854. Mrs. Howe wrote and lectured in behalf of woman suffrage, African-American emancipation, and other causes, and helped found a world peace organization. In Nov., 1861, after watching Union troops march into battle, she wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," her most famous work. It was published in the Atlantic Monthly in Feb., 1862. The American Academy of Arts and Letters elected her as its first woman member (1908). Besides writing several volumes of poetry, she was the author of Sex and Education (1874), Modern Society (1881), and a biography of Margaret Fuller (1883).

See her Reminiscences, 1819-1899 (1899); biographies by her daughters L. E. Richards and M. H. Elliott (1915, repr. 1970) and by V. H. Ziegler (2004); L. H. Tharp, Three Saints and a Sinner (1956).

Beecher, Henry Ward, 1813-87, American Congregational preacher, orator, and lecturer, b. Litchfield, Conn.; son of Lyman Beecher and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe. He graduated from Amherst in 1834 and attended Lane Theological Seminary, Cincinnati. After two pastorates in Indiana, he accepted a call in 1847 to the newly organized Plymouth Church (Congregational) in Brooklyn, N.Y. There Beecher became famous for his advocacy of an emotional "gospel of love" Christianity instead of the strict Calvinist doctrine that then characterized much of American Protestantism. Every important issue of the day was discussed from his pulpit and in his lectures. He was a leader in the antislavery movement, a proponent of woman suffrage, and an advocate of the theory of evolution. Beecher became editor of the Independent in 1861 and of the Christian Union in 1870. In 1863 he visited England, where his lectures were influential in gaining a more sympathetic understanding of the Union cause. Enthusiasm, imaginative insight, a strong interest in humanity, ready wit, and an easy command of language produced a convincing eloquence. The sensational lawsuit brought against him by Theodore Tilton for adultery ended after a long trial (1875) with disagreement of the jury. Beecher's friends acclaimed him the victor. Despite the trial, Beecher remained influential for the rest of his life. His published works include The Life of Jesus, the Christ (1871) and Evolution and Religion (1885).

See biographies by L. Abbott (1904, repr. 1969), P. Hibben (1942, repr. 1973), and D. Applegate (2006); study by W. G. McLoughlin (1970); R. Shaplen, Free Love and Heavenly Sinners (1954); R. W. Fox, Trials of Intimacy (1999).

Babson, Roger Ward, 1875-1967, American businessman and statistician, b. Gloucester, Mass. In 1904 he founded the Babson Statistical Organization, Inc., whose business and financial statistics, published in Babson's Washington Service, are widely sold in the United States, Great Britain, and Canada. In 1919 he established Babson Institute (now Babson College), in Massachusetts, and in 1927 he founded Webber College, in Florida. He was the Prohibition party's 1940 presidential candidate, polling 57,812 votes. He was the author of many books on finance and investment, among the best known of which are Business Barometers (1909, 10th ed. 1961), Investment Fundamentals (1930, 4th ed. 1948), and If Inflation Comes (1937).

See his autobiography, Actions and Reactions (1937, rev. ed 1949).

orig. Julia Ward

Julia Ward Howe, 1902.

(born May 27, 1819, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Oct. 17, 1910, Newport, R.I.) U.S. abolitionist and social reformer. Born to a well-to-do family, she was educated privately. In 1843 she married educator Samuel Gridley Howe and took up residence in Boston. For a while she and her husband published the Commonwealth, an abolitionist newspaper. During a visit to an army camp near Washington, D.C., in 1861, she wrote a poem, “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” to be set to an old folk tune also used for “John Brown's Body.” Published in February 1862 in The Atlantic Monthly, it became the semiofficial Civil War song of the Union Army, and Howe became famous. After the war she involved herself in the woman suffrage movement, helping to found and serving as president of the New England Woman Suffrage Association (1868–77, 1893–1910). She also wrote travel books, biography, drama, verse, and children's songs and edited Woman's Journal (1870–90). In 1908 she became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Learn more about Howe, Julia Ward with a free trial on Britannica.com.

orig. Julia Ward

Julia Ward Howe, 1902.

(born May 27, 1819, New York, N.Y., U.S.—died Oct. 17, 1910, Newport, R.I.) U.S. abolitionist and social reformer. Born to a well-to-do family, she was educated privately. In 1843 she married educator Samuel Gridley Howe and took up residence in Boston. For a while she and her husband published the Commonwealth, an abolitionist newspaper. During a visit to an army camp near Washington, D.C., in 1861, she wrote a poem, “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” to be set to an old folk tune also used for “John Brown's Body.” Published in February 1862 in The Atlantic Monthly, it became the semiofficial Civil War song of the Union Army, and Howe became famous. After the war she involved herself in the woman suffrage movement, helping to found and serving as president of the New England Woman Suffrage Association (1868–77, 1893–1910). She also wrote travel books, biography, drama, verse, and children's songs and edited Woman's Journal (1870–90). In 1908 she became the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Learn more about Howe, Julia Ward with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Henry Beecher, photographed by Napoleon Sarony

(born June 24, 1813, Litchfield, Conn., U.S.—died March 8, 1887, Brooklyn, N.Y.) U.S. Congregational clergyman. The son of a minister, he was the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Catharine Esther Beecher. After graduating from Amherst College and later studying at Lane Theological Seminary, he served as pastor to congregations in Indiana. In 1847 he was called to Plymouth Church in Brooklyn. A famous orator and one of the most influential preachers of his time, he opposed slavery and supported women's suffrage, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and scientific biblical criticism. He gained unfavourable publicity in 1874 when he was put on trial for adultery, but he was acquitted and returned to his church.

Learn more about Beecher, Henry Ward with a free trial on Britannica.com.

Henry Beecher, photographed by Napoleon Sarony

(born June 24, 1813, Litchfield, Conn., U.S.—died March 8, 1887, Brooklyn, N.Y.) U.S. Congregational clergyman. The son of a minister, he was the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Catharine Esther Beecher. After graduating from Amherst College and later studying at Lane Theological Seminary, he served as pastor to congregations in Indiana. In 1847 he was called to Plymouth Church in Brooklyn. A famous orator and one of the most influential preachers of his time, he opposed slavery and supported women's suffrage, Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, and scientific biblical criticism. He gained unfavourable publicity in 1874 when he was put on trial for adultery, but he was acquitted and returned to his church.

Learn more about Beecher, Henry Ward with a free trial on Britannica.com.

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