WARD, WILLIAM GEORGE (1812-1882), English Roman Catholic theologian, was born on March 21, 1812. He was educated at Christ Church and Lincoln College, Oxford, and became a fellow of Balliol in 1834. He was attracted to the Trac tarians by his hatred of what he called "respectability." He re garded Newman as a mere antiquary. When he was persuaded to hear Newman preach, he at once became a disciple. He took deacon's orders in 1838 and priest's orders in 184o. From that period Ward and his associates worked for union with the Church of Rome, and in 1844 he published his Ideal of a Christian Church, in which he openly contended that the only hope for the Church of England lay in submission to the Church of Rome. This publication brought to a height the storm which had long been gathering. The university of Ox
ford was invited, on Feb. 13, 1845, to condemn "Tract XC.," to censure the Ideal, and to degrade Ward from his degrees. The two latter propositions were carried and "Tract XC." only escaped censure by the non placet of the proctors, Guillemard and Church. The condemnation precipitated an exodus to Rome. Ward left the Church of England in Sept. 1845, and was followed by many others, including Newman himself. In 1868 he became editor of the Dublin Review. He died on July 6, 1882.
See William George Ward and the Oxford Movement (1889) and William George Ward and the Catholic Revival (1893), both by his son Wilfrid Philip Ward.