John Ward

From Book Owners Online

John WARD 1629/30-1681

Biographical Note

Son of John Ward of Spratton, Northamptonshire, priest. BA Magdalen Hall, Oxford 1649, MA Christ Church 1652. Vicar of Gretton, Northamptonshire 1652, of Stratford-upon-Avon, 1662, where he also practised as a physician. Ward left a number of manuscript diaries and notebooks, originally in the Medical Society of London Library and now in the Folger Shakespeare Library, which are largely filled with anecdotal observations, but have attracted scholarly attention for references to Shakespeare.

Books

Ward's diary does not refer directly to acquiring books or to his library, but makes clear that he was well read. His probate inventory lists “the bookes in the studye”, valued at £25.

Sources

  • Foster, J., Alumni Oxonienses, Oxford, 1891.
  • Jones, J. (ed), Stratford-upon-Avon inventories, vol 2, 1626-99, 2002, 185.
  • Severn, Charles (ed), Diary of the Rev. John Ward, A.M., London, 1839.