John Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley

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John William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley PC (9 August 1781 – 6 March 1833), became the 4th Viscount Dudley and Ward in 1823. Educated at Oxford, John William Ward entered parliament in 1802, and remained in the House of Commons for 14 of the next 21 years until he succeeded his father in the peerage.

He was Member of Parliament for Downton from 1802 to 1803, for Worcestershire from 1803 to 1806, for Petersfield from 1806 to 1807, for Wareham from 1807 to 1812, and for Bossinney from 1819 to 1823.

In 1827 he was Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under Canning and then under Goderich and under Wellington, resigning office in May 1828.

As foreign minister he was only a cipher; but he was a man of considerable learning and had some reputation as a writer and a talker. Dudley took an interest in the foundation of the University of London, and his Letters to the Bishop of Llandaff were published by the bishop (Edward Copleston) in 1840. He was created Viscount Ednam and Earl of Dudley in 1827, and when he died unmarried on 6 March 1833 these titles became extinct.

[edit] Sources

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
• This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by James Stuart Wortley Sir Compton Pocklington Domvile	Member of Parliament for Bossiney 2-seat constituency (with Sir Compton Pocklington Domvile) 1819–1823	Succeeded by Sir Compton Pocklington Domvile John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie
Political offices
Preceded by George Canning	Foreign Secretary 1827–1828	Succeeded by The Earl of Aberdeen
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Earl of Dudley	Succeeded by Extinct
Preceded by William Ward	Viscount Dudley and Ward