The 1st Viscount Bangor

Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor (18 August 1719 – 20 May 1781),[1] was an Irish politician and peer.

Background

He was the only surviving son of Michael Ward of Castle Ward, County Down, one of the justices of the Court of King's Bench, and his wife Anne Catharina Hamilton, daughter of James Hamilton of Bangor and Lady Sophia Mordaunt.[1]

Life and career

Ward entered the Irish House of Commons in 1745, representing County Down, the same constituency his father had represented, until 1770,[2] when he was raised to the Peerage of Ireland as Baron Bangor, of Castle Ward, in the County of Down.[3] In 1761, he was also elected for Killyleagh and in 1768 for Bangor, however, chose not to sit both times.[2] Ward was further honoured in 1781, when he was created Viscount Bangor, of Castle Ward, in the County of Down.[4]

Family

In December 1747, he married Lady Ann Magill, daughter of John Bligh, 1st Earl of Darnley, and his wife Theodosia Bligh, 10th Baroness Clifton (the widow of Robert Magill of Gill Hall), and had by her four sons and four daughters:[5]

Ward died, aged 61, at his seat Castle Ward.[6] He was succeeded in his titles by his oldest son Nicholas, later placed under disability due to insanity.[7] Both his third son, Edward, and fourth son, Robert, sat in the Parliament of Ireland.[8]

Ward rebuilt Castle Ward in the early 1760s in a style which represented a compromise between the viscount's favoured classical style and his wife's favoured Gothic style. He also enlarged the estate by purchasing adjacent land and remodelled it in a more open style with a deer park.

References

  1. ^ a b Lodge, Edmund (1838). The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage (6th ed.). London: Saunder and Otley. pp. 38.
  2. ^ a b "Leigh Rayment - Irish House of Commons 1692-1800". Archived from the original on 1 June 2009. Retrieved 13 August 2009.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ "No. 11043". The London Gazette. 15 May 1770. p. 3.
  4. ^ "No. 12146". The London Gazette. 19 December 1780. p. 2.
  5. ^ Debrett, John (1828). Debrett's Peerage of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. II (17th ed.). London: G. Woodfall. p. 785.
  6. ^ "ThePeerage - Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor". Retrieved 13 August 2009.
  7. ^ Sylvanus, Urban (1827). The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. part II. London: J. B. Nicholls. p. 463.
  8. ^ "Public Record Office of Northern Ireland - Ward Papers" (PDF). Retrieved 13 August 2009.
Parliament of Ireland Preceded byArthur Hill Robert Hawkins Magill Member of Parliament for County Down 1745–1770 With: Arthur Hill 1745–1766Henry Seymour-Conway 1766–1768Roger Hall 1768–1770 Succeeded byRoger Hall Robert Stewart Preceded byAlexander Hamilton James Stevenson Member of Parliament for Killyleagh 1761 With: John Congreve Succeeded byJohn Blackwood John Congreve Preceded byJohn Parnell Robert Hamilton Member of Parliament for Bangor 1768 With: John Blackwood Succeeded byHon. Nicholas Ward John Blackwood Peerage of Ireland New creation Viscount Bangor January–May 1781 Succeeded byNicholas Ward Baron Bangor 1770–1781
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