William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley


William Humble Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, , was a British aristocrat, politician, and military officer who served as the fourth Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1908 to 1911. He was previously Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1902 to 1905, and also a government minister under Lord Salisbury.
Dudley was the son of William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley, and succeeded to the earldom at the age of 17. He inherited a substantial fortune and the palatial family seat at Witley Court. Dudley sat with the Conservative Party in the House of Lords, and was Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1895 to 1902. He was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland when Arthur Balfour came to power, and was regarded as a competent administrator. His time in Dublin led to his inclusion as a character in James Joyce's Ulysses.
In part due to the urging of King Edward VII, a longtime acquaintance, Dudley was appointed Governor-General of Australia in 1908. His extravagance and pomposity made him unpopular among the general public, and his attempts to interfere in political matters rankled both prime ministers he worked with. Deakin regarded him as doing "nothing really important, nothing thoroughly, nothing consistently very ineffective and not very popular". He was recalled to England after less than three years in office.
Dudley took command of the Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars in 1913. He had first joined the army as a young man, and during the Second Boer War served with the Imperial Yeomanry. In World War I, Dudley commanded the Hussars for the initial stages of the Gallipoli Campaign, but he returned to England before its conclusion. He was later attached to the headquarters staff of the 40th Division, and retired with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Dudley had seven children with his first wife, and was succeeded in the earldom by his oldest son William.

Background and education

Dudley was born in London, the son of William Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley, and Georgina, daughter of Sir Thomas Moncrieff, 7th Baronet. He was educated at Eton. His father died in 1885 and he inherited nearly of mineral deposits in Staffordshire and Worcestershire, two hundred coal and iron mines, several iron works and a substantial fortune, as well as the Earldom. He visited Australia in 1886–87 as part of a yachting cruise. Dudley became part of the social circle of the Prince of Wales, who attended his wedding to Rachel Gurney in 1891. From 1895 to 1896 he was Mayor of Dudley.

Military service

Dudley became a Major in the Queen's Own Worcestershire Hussars in 1885. After the outbreak of the Second Boer War, he was in early 1900 seconded for service as a Deputy Assistant Adjutant General for the Imperial Yeomanry, and left for South Africa in the SS Scot in late January that year. He was present at operations in the Oranje Free State in February to May 1900. Some of the actions he was involved with were at Poplar Grover, Driefontein, Vet River, and Zand River. From May to June 1900 he was present at operations in the Transvaal. Some of the actions he was involved with were Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Diamond Hill. He then return to the United Kingdom, and in July to November 1900 he was involved with the suppression of the Irish troubles in Belfast.
By 1913, Lord Dudley, who had taken command of the Hussars in November, was convinced that there was going to be another war in Europe and formed a permanent staff of instructors to train the regiment in musketry. When war was declared in 1914, the Worcestershires formed into the 1st South Midland Mounted Brigade, under the commander of Brigadier E. A. Wiggin. The Brigade was ordered to Egypt and was based in Chatby Camp, near Alexandria, by April 1915. The brigade didn't see any action until they were ordered to prepare to fight as infantry in August. It was at this time that the men were sent to Suvla Bay, and took part in the Gallipoli campaign. The regiment were in support of the Anzacs in their attempt to break through the Turkish defenses. This attack obviously failed miserably, and they were evacuated in January 1916. Lord Dudley had already left the area in 1915, and had been posted to East Mudros as Commandant. In 1916, Lord Dudley was then attached to the headquarters staff of the 40th Infantry Division. Leaving the military in 1916, Lord Dudley retired as a lieutenant colonel.

Political career

Dudley sat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords and served under Lord Salisbury as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1895 to 1902.
After Arthur Balfour succeeded as Prime Minister, Lord Dudley was on 11 August 1902 sworn a member of the Privy Council, and appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was sworn in and formally installed as such in a ceremony at Dublin Castle on 16 August 1902, and was also appointed Grand Master of the Order of St. Patrick, as was customary for the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. Through his years in Ireland, he displayed great extravagance but also some political and administrative ability. The 1903 Irish Land Act and his cooperation with George Wyndham on a devolution scheme to deal with the Home Rule question were among important milestones. He is immortalized in Joyce's description of his Vice-Regal progress through Dublin in Ulysses.

Governor-General of Australia

As a Conservative, Dudley could not have expected preferment from the Liberal government which came to office in 1905, but King Edward VII pressed the Prime Minister, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman to offer Dudley the post of Governor-General of Australia, and Campbell-Bannerman agreed, since there was apparently no suitable Liberal candidate available. Dudley arrived in Sydney on 9 September 1908, and soon established a reputation for pomp, ceremony and extravagance which was unwelcome to many Australians, particularly the Labor Party and the radical press such as The Bulletin. Not long after his arrival, he found himself swearing in a Labor cabinet under Andrew Fisher, so the Labor Party's disapproval of his vice-regal style became an important issue.
The new Governor-General soon found himself involved in another controversy. It was part of Labor policy to establish an independent Australian navy. The Liberal opposition, on the other hand, supported the campaign for Australia to raise money to build ships for the Royal Navy: the so-called Dreadnought campaign. So when Dudley made a speech in support of the Dreadnought campaign, he was straying into party politics, leading to a tense relationship with Fisher. In 1909 Fisher's minority government resigned, and Dudley refused him an early election. The Liberals returned to office under Alfred Deakin, solving Dudley's immediate problems. But although Fisher was careful not to criticise Dudley in public, the Governor-General had acquired a reputation as "anti-Labor," which made him unpopular with half the Australian electorate.
In April 1910 Labor won a sweeping election victory and Fisher returned to power. Relations between Governor-General and Prime Minister were soon once again frosty. Dudley's insistence on maintaining two very expensive Government Houses, in Sydney and Melbourne, on travelling around the country in vice-regal pomp, and on chartering a steam-yacht to circumnavigate the continent, infuriated Fisher, a frugal Scottish socialist. By October Dudley had recognised the impossibility of his position and asked to be recalled. He left Australia on 31 July 1911, unmarked by any official ceremony. Alfred Deakin wrote of him:

Marriages and children

Lord Dudley married firstly in 1891 Rachel Anne Gurney daughter of Charles Henry Gurney and Alice Prinsep, sister of Laura Gurney, wife of Sir Thomas Herbert Cochrane Troubridge, 4th Baronet Troubridge, and maternal granddaughters of Henry Thoby Prinsep and wife Sara Monckton Pattle.
They had seven children:
Lady Dudley took an interest in medical welfare. In Ireland, in 1903, she set up the Lady Dudley Nurses scheme to serve isolated rural communities in counties Connemara, Mayo, Donegal, and Kerry. In Australia, in 1908, she set up a similar scheme which was a forerunner of the Flying Doctor service.
On the outbreak of World War I Lady Dudley established the Australian Voluntary Hospital from doctors and nurse in London. She drowned on 26 June 1920, aged 51, while on a visit to Connemara.
Lord Dudley remarried, on 30 April 1924, actress Gertie Millar, daughter of John Millar,.
Lord Dudley died of cancer in London on 29 June 1932 at age 65 and was succeeded by his eldest son, William. Gertie, Countess of Dudley, died in April 1952. The English actress Rachel Ward is his great-granddaughter.

Honours and awards