J. P. Ward, Esq.
(1835-1878)
10 June 1861

Volume 4, page 54, sitting number 4285.

[The sitter is identified as J.P. Ward, Esq.' in the Silvy daybooks.]

This is probably John Petty Hamilton Ward, the second surviving son of the colonial administrator John Petty Ward (1791-1869).

Born on 15 August 1835, he died at Government House in Ottawa in Canada on 12 March 1878, aged 42. He had been involved in a sledging accident at the Governor-General's residence the previous December but apparently this was unrelated to his death. The announcement of his demise that appeared in The Times (19 March 1878) described him as 'late of the Bengal Civil Service.'

A Canadian newspaper gave more details. 'We regret to learn that the illness with which, as our readers are aware, Mr John Petty Ward was so suddenly attacked some days ago, terminated fatally yesterday at two o'clock. The deceased gentleman was a cousin of Captain Frederick Ward, ADC to His Excellency the Governor General, and was the third son of Mr John Petty Ward, of the Bengal Civil Service, younger brother of Edward, third Viscount Bangor. It will be remembered that the deceased gentleman met with a severe accident in the early part of the winter by which his leg was fractured, but the illness of which he died was in no way connected with this circumstance. He had, in fact, almost completely recovered the use of the injured limb when this last sudden attack supervened, the seeds of which may probably have been sown during Mr Ward's long residence in India. He retained consciousness almost to the last, and his end was peaceful and free from suffering. It would be impossible to describe in words the fortitude and patience which he exhibited both in the crisis of his last illness and during the tedious confinement to which the previous accident had subjected him. [...] Mr Ward's loss will be deeply felt by a large number of relations and friends, to whom his many noble qualities had endeared him to an extraordinary degree, and by none more than by the inmates of Government House' (Ottawa Daily Citizen, 13 March 1878).