William Ward was a Victorian Mayor of the city of Oxford

Oxford

The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...

, in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.

William Ward was the son of Henry Ward (1780–1852), who himself was the son of Abraham Ward from Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

. His mother was Sarah Ward (1779–1858), the daughter of Abraham Ward (1739–1817) from Stafford

Stafford

Stafford is the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies approximately north of Wolverhampton and south of Stoke-on-Trent, adjacent to the M6 motorway Junction 13 to Junction 14...

 and Oxford.

Ward became a coal merchant as his father had been before him. His business was based at the canal wharf on the Oxford Canal

Oxford Canal

The Oxford Canal is a narrow canal in central England linking Oxford with Coventry via Banbury and Rugby. It connects with the River Thames at Oxford, to the Grand Union Canal at the villages of Braunston and Napton-on-the-Hill, and to the Coventry Canal at Hawkesbury Junction in Bedworth just...

 in Jericho, Oxford

Jericho, Oxford

Jericho is a historic suburb of the English city of Oxford. It consists of the streets bounded by the Oxford Canal, Worcester College, Walton Street and Walton Well Road. Located outside the old city wall, it was originally a place for travellers to rest if they had reached the city after the...

.

William Ward married Harriet Timmis on 20 July 1830. They lived at the junction of St John Street

St John Street, Oxford

St John Street is a street in central Oxford, England. The street mainly consists of stone-faced Georgian-style terraced houses. It was built as a speculative development by St John's College starting in the 1820s and finishing in the 1840s at the start of the Victorian era.At the northern end is...

 and Alfred Street (now Pusey Street

Pusey Street

Pusey Street links the wide thoroughfare of St Giles' Street to the east with St John Street to the west in the St John Street area of central Oxford, England. Pusey Street, formerly called Alfred Street, was renamed in honour of Edward Bouverie Pusey in 1926.The street is bordered by two Oxford...

) in central Oxford. The house is now 22 St John Street. Eleven children were born to them in this house between 1832 and 1847, all baptised at St Giles' Church

St Giles' Church, Oxford

St. Giles' Church is a church in North Oxford, England. It is at the northern end of the wide thoroughfare of St Giles', at the point where meets Woodstock Road and Banbury Road...

 nearby.

Ward was Mayor of Oxford in 1851–2 and again in 1861–2.

In 1868, Ward was elected the first President of the newly formed Oxford Constitutional Association. He became known as the father of modern Conservatism in Oxford.
Ward was also a leader in the Oxford Movement

Oxford Movement

The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...

. He donated the land in Jericho for the building of St Barnabas' Church in 1869.

Ward erected a drinking fountain on the site of the spring

Spring (hydrosphere)

A spring—also known as a rising or resurgence—is a component of the hydrosphere. Specifically, it is any natural situation where water flows to the surface of the earth from underground...

 at Walton Well, located in Walton Well Road

Walton Well Road

Walton Well Road is a road in central north Oxford, England. It provides the main link from central Oxford to Port Meadow and beyond.- Location :...

, with a plaque dated 1885.

Ward died in 20 July 1889 aged 82 and was buried in the family vault at St Mary Magdalen's Church. His wife died on 26 July 1876 aged 67 and was buried in the same church.