John Manning Ward (6 July 1919 – 6 May 1990) was a

Vice-Chancellor A vice-chancellor (commonly called a VC) serves as the chief executive of a university in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Kenya, other Commonwealth of Nati ...

and

Challis Professor The Challis Professorship are professorships at the University of Sydney named in honour of John Henry Challis, an Anglo-Australian merchant, landowner and philanthropist, whose bequests to the University of Sydney allowed for their establishmen ...

of History at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. Ward was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and was educated at Fort Street Boys High School and the University of Sydney. He was admitted to the NSW Bar in 1948.

Career

Professor Ward served as Challis Professor of History from 1948 to 1979. He steered the History Department through a period of scarce resources into an era of expansion. He was appointed visiting professor at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

in 1963; visiting fellow at

All Souls College All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

, Oxford in 1968; and was the Smuts Visiting Fellow at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

in 1972. Ward was a Foundation Fellow of the

Australian Academy of the Humanities The Australian Academy of the Humanities was established by Royal Charter in 1969 to advance scholarship and public interest in the humanities in Australia. It operates as an independent not-for-profit organisation partly funded by the Australi ...

in 1969. He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

in the 1983 Australia Day Honours for service to education.

University administration

Ward had previously been Fellow of Senate from 1974 to 1977, and took office as vice-chancellor of the University of Sydney in 1981 and held that position until 1990. He was the first University of Sydney graduate to have held that post since the university's foundation. Professor Ward was a member of the university staff for 47 years.

Books

He produced major books and articles on British, Imperial and Australian history. His books include ''British Policy in the South Pacific, 1796-1893'' (reprinted three times); ''Earl Grey and the Australian Colonies, 1847-1856''; ''Colonial Self-Government, the British Experience, 1759-1856''; and ''James Macarthur, Colonial Conservative, 1798-1867'', the latter being the first in a trilogy on conservatism in Australia. Professor Ward had planned on retirement to complete the other two books in the series.

Death

On 6 May 1990, Professor Ward, together with his wife Patricia, 69, and his daughter Jennifer, 36, were on board the

3801 3801 (pronounced Thirty-eight o-one) is a New South Wales C38 class locomotive, C38 class 4-6-2 steam locomotive built for and operated by the New South Wales Government Railways between 1943 and 1974. It is arguably Australia's most famous s ...

steam train on a Sunday excursion run from the

Hunter Valley The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River and its ...

to Sydney. They were all killed when a commuter train collided with the rear of the steam train in the

Cowan rail accident The Cowan rail accident occurred at 7:20pm on 6 May 1990 when the 3801 Limited special steam passenger train returning from the Morpeth Jazz Festival was struck in the rear by the following CityRail inter-urban passenger service. The steam tr ...

. The collision also killed Moira Jennings, the wife of the registrar, as well as injuring several other members of the university.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, John Manning 1919 births 1990 deaths Vice-chancellors of the University of Sydney Railway accident deaths in Australia 20th-century Australian historians Accidental deaths in New South Wales Challis professor Officers of the Order of Australia Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities