William George Ward
| William George Ward | |
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Engraving of William George Ward (1883)
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| Born |
21 March 1812 London |
| Died | 6 July 1882 (aged 70) Hampstead, London |
| Fields | Mathematics and Theology |
| Institutions | St. Edmund's College |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
William George Ward (21 March 1812 – 6 July 1882) was an English theologian and mathematician. A Roman Catholic convert, his career illustrates the development of religious opinion at a time of crisis in the history of English religious thought.
He was the son of William Ward and Emily Combe. He was educated at Winchester College and went up to Christ Church, Oxford, in 1830, but his father's financial difficulties forced him in 1833 to try for a scholarship at Lincoln College, which he succeeded in obtaining. Ward had a gift for pure mathematics but for history, applied mathematics or anything outside the exact sciences, he felt contempt. He was endowed with a strong sense of humour and a love of paradox carried to an extreme. His examination for mathematical honours exhibited some of the peculiarities of his character and mental powers. Four out of his five papers on applied mathematics were sent up absolutely blank. Honours, however, were not refused him, and in 1834 he obtained an open fellowship at Balliol.
In the previous year the Tractarian movement had been launched: Ward was attracted to it by his hatred of moderation and what he called "respectability". He was repelled by the conception he had formed of John Henry Newman, whom he regarded as a mere antiquary. When, however, he was at length persuaded by a friend to go and hear Newman preach, he at once became a disciple. But he had, as Newman afterwards said of him, "struck into the movement at an angle." He had no taste for historical investigations. He treated the question at issue as one of pure logic: disliking the Reformers, the right of private judgment which Protestants claimed, and the somewhat prosaic uniformity of the English Church, he flung himself into a general campaign against Protestantism in general and the Anglican form of it in particular. He nevertheless took deacon's orders in 1838 and priest's orders in 1840.
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