William Ward

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William Ward
Person William Ward
Title
First name William
Middle name(s)
Last name Ward
Suffix
Spouse of
Widow of
Occupation Winecooper
Secondary shorebased occupation
Mariner occupation
Associated with ship(s)
Training Apprentice
Is apprentice of Samuel Page
Was apprentice of
Had apprentice(s)
Citizen Unknown
Literacy Signature
Has opening text
Has signoff text William Ward
Signoff image (Invalid transcription image)
Language skills English language
Has interpreter
Birth street
Birth parish
Birth town
Birth county
Birth province
Birth country
Res street
Res parish Saint Dunstans in the East
Res town London
Res county
Res province
Res country England
Birth year 1628
Marriage year
Death year
Probate date
First deposition age 19
Primary sources
Act book start page(s)
Personal answer start page(s)
Allegation start page(s)
Interrogatories page(s)
Deposition start page(s) HCA 13/72 f.53v Annotate
Chancery start page(s)
Letter start page(s)
Miscellaneous start page(s)
Act book date(s)
Personal answer date(s)
Allegation date(s)
Interrogatories date(s)
Deposition date(s) May 28 1657
How complete is this biography?
Has infobox completed Yes
Has synthesis completed No
Has HCA evidence completed No
Has source comment completed No
Ship classification
Type of ship N/A
Silver Ship litigation in 1650s
Role in Silver Ship litigation None


Biographical synthesis

William Ward (b. ca. 1638; d. ?). Servant to Samuel Page, winecooper.

Resident in 1657 in the parish of Saint Dunstan in the East.

Samuell Page's residence appears in the 1666 hearth tax return for the parish of Saint Dunstan in the East rated at four hearths in "Strett Side".[1]

Evidence from High Court of Admiralty

William Ward, nineteen year old servant of Samuel Page, deposed in the High Court of Admiralty on May 28th 1657.[2] He was examined on an allegation given in by Basse in the case of "Page and others against Basse and others".[3]

The case concerned the alleged embezzlement of wine on board the ship the Samuell by the ship's gunner, cook and cook's boy, whilst the ship was moored in the River Thames.[4]

William Ward had been employed to "watch wines" that had been brought home in the ship the Samuell. He was on the ship at night with Henry Carter, the servant and apprentice of Richard Brian, another wine cooper, of Saint Mary at Hill. Henry Carter called William Ward into the ship's cook room and showed him "a rundlet of wine of about eight gallons all slabberd and wet and lying by a false scuttle that went out of the said cooke-roome into the hold, which scuttle was likewise wet".[5]

Carter told Ward that "hee had catched the gunner, the cooke and the cookes boy of the said shipp handing and endeavouring to convey the same away and had prevented it". The men had confessed, but then attempted to bribe Henry Carter, saying that " they had rather given this deponent and the said Carter tenn shillings, than they should make the merchant acquainted therewith" They offered to pour the wine back into the pipe from which they had drawn it, which they did, but the master's mate of the ship failed to secure the scuttle.[6]

The crew had reportedly already made a considerable sum from embezzling and selling wine from the ship. William Ward had "heard some of the shipps company say that they had sold a greate quantitie of wines in the west countrey that came the said voyage in the said shipp. Th wine was worth, in War's estimation, 6 shillings a gallon.[7]

Comment on sources

Samuel Page

"London Hearth Tax: 1666:

Saint Dunstan in the East.

Strett Side

Samuell Page 4 hearths"[8]
  1. 'Hearth Tax: City of London 1666: St Dunstan in the East ', London Hearth Tax: City of London and Middlesex, 1666 (2011), viewed 30/07/2016
  2. HCA 13/72 f.53v
  3. HCA 13/72 f.53r
  4. HCA 13/72 f.53v
  5. HCA 13/72 f.53v
  6. HCA 13/72 f.54r
  7. HCA 13/72 f.54r
  8. 'Hearth Tax: City of London 1666: St Dunstan in the East ', London Hearth Tax: City of London and Middlesex, 1666 (2011), viewed 30/07/2016