Dates

• Existence: 1837 - 1924

Biography

Adolphus Ward, historian (1837-1924) was the second son of John Ward, a diplomat. He entered Peterhouse as a pensioner in 1855. He took a First Class in the Classical Tripos in 1859, and was elected a fellow of his college three years later. In 1866 he was appointed professor of history and English at Owens College, Manchester, and remained there for the next three decades, becoming principal of the college in 1889, and creating a history school that came to rival those of Oxford and Cambridge. His research interests during this period were primarily in the history of English literature and drama, although he also published a study of the Counter-Reformation (1889) and became an expert in the history of Britain's relations with Hanover. In October 1896 Ward was approached by Lord Acton, whose scheme for a multi-volume 'universal modern history' had just been accepted by the Syndics of Cambridge University Press, as a man who had much greater familiarity with the historians of the northern English universities than had Acton himself, and could therefore suggest those who might be potential contributors. Ward was enthusiastic about the scheme, and during the next few years acted as Acton's principal lieutenant, taking over much of the day-to-day management and detailed editorial work after his retirement from Manchester in 1897, and subsequent resettlement in Kensington. Acton's letters to him during their collaboration form the largest component of the present collection. By 1900 he felt that his health was suffering, and that the importance of his work was insufficiently recognised by the Syndics. He therefore withdrew from his editorial functions, and restricted himself to the preparation of his own chapters of the History. In the autumn of 1900 Ward was elected Master of Peterhouse, and returned to Cambridge at what could be seen in hindsight to have been an opportune moment, for the following spring Acton suffered a stroke, and in due course resigned the editorship of the History. The Syndics asked Ward to take over as general editor, assisted by Stanley Leathes and George Prothero. At this point, none of the volumes had yet been published, and Acton had left the project in some chaos, and well behind schedule. By a mixture of determination, diplomacy, industry and scholarship (and with the loyal co-operation of his co-editors), Ward brought the History to completion over the following decade, celebrating the publication of the final volume with a dinner for contributors in June 1911. Although he was now over seventy, Ward's enthusiasm for large-scale collaborative histories was undiminished. While still engaged on the Modern History he began to edit the Cambridge History of English Literature (published 1907-16), and from 1916 (jointly with G.P. Gooch) the Cambridge History of British Foreign Policy 1783-1919 (published 1922-23). A few letters in this collection relate to these projects. Ward died at Cambridge on 19 June 1924, aged 86.

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