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Francis Ward
Captain Francis (Frank) Ward was born 30 August 1845 at 1 Redmead Lane, Wapping, London, England. He died on Xmas Day 1928 at 52 Shenton Road, Claremont (WA BDM 1948/1928). He married Mary Jane Harwood (second daughter of builder Joshua Josiah Harwood and Janetta Tucknott) on 10 April 1874 in St John's Church Fremantle. She was born in Fremantle 22 October 1853 (WA BDM 2402/1853) and died in Perth 4 June 1948 (WA BDM 1194/1948). Ward was a master mariner. He was interred in Fremantle Cemetery at Congregational Mon D-0030 (FB0000980319).
Inquirer and Commercial News, Wednesday 15 April 1874, page 2
SHIPPING REPORT. PORT OF FREMANTLE. APRIL 11
Caroline Hutchings, barque, 287 tons.
Francis Ward, for Singapore. Passenger - Mrs. F. Ward. Bickley & Co, agents.
Lloyds List, London, Monday 17 August 1874.
Hong Kong - The Caroline Hutchings which arrived here, 27th June, from
Bangkok, crossed the Macclesfield bank on the 27th during a SW gale, with
heavy squalls from the NW, from thence till her arrival, she encountered heavy
weather from S and SW, during which she shipped much water, and lost part of
bulwarks.
Lloyds List, London, Tuesday 18 August 1874
Amoy, 15th Aug., 2.30 p.m. - The Caroline Hutchings, from Macao to Yokohama,
with a general cargo, parted from her anchors and drove ashore in the harbour,
and became a total loss; crew saved.
Daily News, Thursday 27 December 1928, page 6
PERSONAL
There was a large gathering at the funeral this morning of the late Captain
Francis Ward, one of the few surviving links with olden days at Fremantle, who
died on Tuesday. Captain Ward, who was aged 83, traded to Fremantle in
several vessels during sailing ship days, and was the first master to bring a ship
alongside the old "long" jetty. When he retired from the sea he joined the staff of
the Customs Department, in which he served until he reached the retiring age
20 years ago, since when he has lived privately in Fremantle. He married a Miss
M. J. Harwood, a member of a well-known Western Australian family, and is
survived by a grown-up family of three sons and four daughters.
Erickson: WARD, Frank (Capt), d. 29.9.1874 (off China), m. 4.4.1874 (Frem. C/E) Mary Jane HARWOOD b. 22.10.1853 d. 29.9.1874, dtr. of Joshua Josiah & Janetta (nee Tucknott). Master of Caroline Hutchings trading vessel , dep. 11.4.1874. Lost at sea with his wife off the China coast in a typhoon.
Erickson has Captain Ward dying in 1874 in the wreck of his barque, the Caroline Hutchings, 'off the coast of China' - near Formosa (now Taiwan). However, both he and his wife survived, as she lived to write an account of the event - which I've put on the page for the ship.
Mary Jane Harwood was interred 7 June 1948 in Fremantle Cemetery, at Congregational, Mon D-0030 (FB0001676027)
The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) Saturday 5 June 1948 p 1 Family Notices
WARD: On June 4, 1948, at Subiaco, Mary Jane, widow of Captain Francis Ward, of Fremantle, loving mother of Frank, George, Will, Rose (Mrs. W. Taylor), Myrtle (Mrs. Blythe) May (Mrs. Comley), Daisy (Mrs. Pittman, of Sydney), Lil (deceased) and Violet (deceased); aged 94 years.
References, links, acknowledgements
Many thanks to Robert Ward for an invaluable, comprehensive genealogy of Frank Ward's family, for most of the information above, and for the splendid photo.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 13 June, 2018 and hosted at freotopia.org/people/wardfrank.html (it was last updated on 28 September, 2023), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.