William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley

William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley (27 March 1817 – 7 May 1885), known as The Lord Ward from 1835 to 1860, was a British landowner and benefactor.

Ward was born on 27 March 1817 at Edwardstone Boxford, Suffolk, England, the son of William Ward, 10th Baron Ward, who had succeeded in the barony of Ward on the death of his second cousin, Foreign Secretary John Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley, in 1833 (the earldom becoming extinct). His mother was Amelia, daughter of William Cooch Pillans. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford and Trinity College, Oxford. He played first-class cricket for Oxford University Cricket Club between 1838 and 1842.

The monument to William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley, in Worcester Cathedral.

Between 1859 and 1877 Ward paid for the entire refacing and restoration of Worcester Cathedral and there is a monument to him in the cathedral. In 1868 he defrayed one third of the cost of the tower and spire of St John the Baptist's Church at Hagley. He was also a trustee of the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery. In 1860 the earldom held by his kinsman was revived when he was created Viscount Ednam, of Ednam in the County of Roxburgh, and Earl of Dudley, of Dudley Castle in the County of Stafford.

Lord Dudley married, firstly, Selina Constance, daughter of Hubert de Burgh, on 24 April 1851. She died on 14 November of the same year, aged only 22. There were no children from this marriage.

He married, secondly, Georgina Elisabeth, daughter of Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, 7th Baronet, and Lady Louisa Hay-Drummond, on 21 November 1865. They had six sons and one daughter:

• William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley (25 May 1867 – 29 June 1932), who succeeded his father and became a prominent Conservative politician
• Hon. Sir John Hubert Ward (20 March 1870 – 2 December 1938)
• Hon. Robert Arthur Ward (23 February 1871 – 14 June 1942)
• Lady Edith Amelia Ward (16 September 1872 – 6 June 1956)
• Captain Hon. Reginald Ward (11 June 1874 – 7 March 1904)
• Captain Hon. Cyril Augustus Ward (31 January 1876 – 11 January 1930)
• Hon. Gerald Ernest Francis Ward MVO (9 November 1877 – 30 October 1914), a first class-cricketer for Marylebone Cricket Club, who served in the 1st Life Guards during the First World War and was killed in action at Zandvoorde, Belgium

His sister-in-law Harriet Moncreiffe, who a few years later, as Lady Mordaunt, became embroiled in a sensational divorce case, referred to him as "frizzle wig".

Ward died on 7 May 1885, aged 68, at Dudley House, Park Lane, Mayfair, in London, and was buried in Great Witley, Worcestershire. His remains were later reinterred in Worcester Cathedral.

The Countess of Dudley survived her husband by over forty years and died in February 1929 at her home at Pembroke Lodge, Richmond Park at the age of 82, having spent over half her life as a widow.