Michael Francis Ward (1845-17 June 1881) was an Irish doctor, surgeon, politician and nationalist MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and as member of the Home Rule League represented Galway Borough from 1874 until 1880.
Ward was born in Galway in 1845, the son of Timothy Ward, a city merchant, and his wife Catherine (née Lynch). He was educated at St. Ignatius College in Galway, and at Queen's College Galway which he entered in 1861 to study medicine. He was elected auditor of the college's Literary and Debating Society for the 1866-1867 session. Ward left Galway to continue his medical studies at Dr Steevens' Hospital in Dublin, under the auspices of the Catholic University. He became a Licentiate of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in 1868, and returned to Galway as Demonstrator of Anatomy at the Queen's College. Ward resigned from this post in 1870 on foot of a controversy surrounding the Literary and Debating Society, then under the auditorship of his brother, Peter Ward.
Leaving Galway, Ward took up a position as surgeon to the Infirmary for Children at Buckingham Street in Dublin, and later became curator of the Catholic University Anatomical Museum. He was election agent for his college contemporary Frank Hugh O'Donnell when O'Donnell contested the Galway constituency in the 1874 general election and, when O'Donnell was unseated by the courts, Ward successfully contested the ensuing by-election as an agreed Home Rule League candidate. He represented Galway in the House of Commons until 1880 election when, on the dissolution of Parliament, his whereabouts could not be established; in his place, his friend and another college contemporary T.P. O'Connor contested and won the Galway seat.
Ward accepted an offer of a position on the Government Medical Service in Demerara in 1881. He died shortly after arriving in the colony on 17 June 1881.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Frank Hugh O'Donnell George Morris |
Member of Parliament for Galway Borough 1874–1880 With: George Morris |
Succeeded by Thomas Power O'Connor John Orrell Lever |