Ward entered the Irish House of Commons for County Down in 1713.[1] In 1715 and 1727, he stood also for Bangor, (both constituencies had long been controlled by his wife's family, the Hamiltons), but chose to sit for Down both times.[1] In the latter year Ward was appointed a Justice of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland), an office he held until 1758, although increasing ill-health made it impossible for him to sit on the Bench in his last years.[2] He transformed Killough into a port and built a road to Castle Ward, the family's residence, to enable the lead mined on the estate to be carried to the ships.[3]
^ abBurke, John (1832). A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Peerage and Baronetage of the British Empire. Vol. I (4th ed.). London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley. p. 75.
^Lodge, John (1789). Mervyn Archdall (ed.). The Peerage of Ireland or A Genealogical History of the Present Nobility of that Kingdom. Vol. VI. Dublin: James Moore. pp. 70–71.