Page:Dictionary of National Biography. Sup. Vol III (1901).djvu/520

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Ward
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Ward

Road, Kensington, on 22 April 1899, was buried at Brornpton cemetery on 27 April. In 1868 he married Mary, eldest daughter of William Cecil of Dyffrin, Monmouthshire.

Warburton's reminiscences of his life were published in 1900 under the title 'Eighteen Years in the Khyber,' London, 8vo.

[Eighteen Years in the Khyber (with portraits) ; Times, 24, 25, 28 April 1899.]

E. I. C.

WARD, MARY (1585–1645), founder of a female order modelled on the rule of the Jesuits, born at Mulwith, near Ripon, on 23 Jan. 1584–5, was the eldest child of Marmaduke Ward of Givendale, Mulwith, and Newby, in the West riding of Yorkshire, by his wife Ursula, daughter of Robert Wright (d. 1594) of Plowland in Holderness, and widow of John Constable (d. 1581) of Hatfield in the same district. John Wright (1568?–1605) [q. v.] was Mary's uncle. She was at baptism named Jane, a name which at her confirmation was changed to Mary. Her parents were Roman catholics, and she was educated in the same faith. At the age of five she went to live at Plowland with her grandmother, Ursula Wright, the daughter of Nicholas Rudston of Hayton in the East riding. On the death of her grand-father in 1594 she returned to Mulwith, but the household was broken up by the persecution of 1597–8, and she was entrusted to her kinswoman, Mrs. Ardington of Harewell, a daughter of Sir William Ingleby of Ripley. From 1600 to 1606 she resided with the wife of Sir Ralph Babthorpe of Osgodby and Babthorpe, near York. Her birth and her great beauty attracted numerous suitors, but her heart was set on the monastic life, and in 1606 she proceeded to St. Omer, and entered the community of the Colettines, the severest order of St. Clare. Somewhat against her inclination she was appointed to collect alms from the townspeople, her own desire being for greater solitude and contemplation. Moreover, as a lay sister she was not subject to the rule of St. Clare, but to the less rigorous discipline of the third order of St. Francis. In May 1607 she left the convent, resolved on founding a community especially for Englishwomen. She repaired to the court of the archdukes at Brussels, and in spite of considerable opposition obtained land for a convent near Gravelines. On Christmas eve she commenced her community in a temporary dwelling at St. Omer, with five English nuns transferred from 'the Walloon monastery' in that city. In 1609, however, she left this convent also, after endowing it with most of her possessions. She returned to St. Omer, after a visit to England, accompanied by five young English ladies, with whom she founded a community in the Grosse Rue, which chiefly concerned itself with the education of girls, and did not bind itself to the life of strict seclusion which was characteristic of most female orders. In 1611. after a severe illness, she resolved, in consequence of a supernatural communication, to adopt the rules of the Society of Jesus for her community, adapting them for the use of women. About 1611 the first affiliated community was established in London at Spitalfields. By 1617 the number of inmates in the parent community had increased to sixty persons, and in that year a second subordinate community was established at Liege, Mary Ward herself removing to the new house. During the next few years she travelled constantly in England and the Low Countries, and on one occasion was arrested and thrown into prison in London. In 1620 and 1621 she was occupied in founding houses in Kciln and Trier.

At the close of 1621, finding considerable opposition arising to her order, she resolved to proceed to Rome, where she arrived on Christmas eve. She immediately submitted to Gregory XV a memorial, stating that she and her companions had by divine appointment taken upon them the rule of life of the Jesuits, and requesting the establishment of an order under his sanction. Finding that the English clergy were hostile and passed strictures on the conduct of her house in London, she requested leave on 1 July 1622 to establish a house in Rome, that her plan might be made a matter of observation. Her request was granted, schools for girls were instituted, and the community was quickly organised.

For more than a year affairs went well, but renewed trouble arose at the close of that period. In June 1625, in consequence of fresh charges brought against Mary of preaching publicly in London before an altar, and similar absurdities, the schools were closed by the order of Urban VIII. In November 1626, despairing of obtaining the ratification of her order, Mary determined to proceed to England through Germany. At Milan she was received with great respect by the saintly cardinal archbishop, Federigo Borromeo. Passing through the Tyrol she arrived at Munich, where the elector, Maximilian I, permitted her and her companions to remain, and gave them a residence and a yearly allowance for their maintenance. In 1627 the Emperor Ferdinand invited Mary to Vienna, and provided a foundation