Henry George Ward

Sir Henry George Ward GCMG (1797–1860) was an English diplomat and politician. The son of writer Robert Plumer Ward and Catherine Julia Maling he entered the diplomatic service in 1816. He was charge d'affaires in Mexico from 1825 to 1827 and published two books about his travels there (illustrated by his wife Emily Elizabeth Swinburne). He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Sheffield in 1837, and held the seat until 1849. He was First Secretary of the Admiralty from 1846 to 1849, Lord High Commissioner to the Ionian Islands from 1849 to 1855, and on 11 May 1855 he became governor of Ceylon, a post he kept until his death from cholera on 30 June 1860.