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The Dictionary of Australasian Biography/Ward, Frederick William

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1459489The Dictionary of Australasian Biography — Ward, Frederick WilliamPhilip Mennell

Ward, Frederick William, is a native of New Zealand, to which colony his father, the Rev. Robert Ward, emigrated from Norfolk, England. He shared in the suppression of the Maori rebellion, or New Zealand war as it was called, in 1863-5. He was educated for the ministry of the Wesleyan Church, and, shortly after his being admitted to the office, went to New South Wales, where he was for a time associated with William Curnow in the pastorate of the largest Wesleyan Church in Sydney. He, however, resigned the ministry, and became a writer for the Sydney Morning Herald, He subsequently took the editorship of the Echo and the Sydney Mail, the former an evening paper and the latter a weekly journal, connected with the Sydney Morning Herald. In the year 1885 Mr. Ward was offered the position of editor of the Daily Telegraph, a new morning paper established in Sydney. He accepted this, and conducted the paper with great ability until 1890, when, differing with the company owning the paper on a question of editorial management, he resigned his post. In 1891 he proceeded to London, and acted for a year as head of the Melbourne Age and Sydney Daily Telegraph cable syndicate, a position previously held by Mr. Philip Mennell for several years. Mr. Ward, who married Miss Amy Cooke, returned to Australia in June 1892.