Crosbie Ward

Crosbie Ward (10 February 1832 – 10 November 1867) was a New Zealand politician who served as a member of the Canterbury Provincial Council (1855–1867) and as a member of parliament (1858–1867). His younger brother Hamilton and two elder brothers (who were Hamilton's caregivers) had gone to New Zealand and when the elder brothers drowned, Crosbie Ward came to New Zealand to support Hamilton. Together with Charles Bowen, Ward bought the Lyttelton Times in 1856 and he was soon regarded as "Canterbury's best satirical writer" with a "penetrating wit". His paternal grandfather was Edward Ward (1753–1812), who was a member of the Irish House of Commons for 14 years. His grandfather's father-in-law was William Crosbie, 1st Earl of Glandore (1716–1781); from this part of the family came Crosbie Ward's given name. Ward received his education at King William's College in Castletown, Isle of Man, and at Trinity College Dublin. Crosbie Ward was sent out; he arrived on the Stag on 17 May 1852.

Ward and Charles Bowen bought the Lyttelton Times in 1856 for NZ£5,000, with most of the content produced by them from then on. Ward became a prominent journalist, showing deep talent for the task. His biographer, Geoffrey Rice, described him as having "a penetrating wit ... so free from malice that very few were seriously angry when jokes were made at their expense". The Press had been founded in 1860 to oppose William Moorhouse, and its owner, vigorously backed Lance. The Lyttelton Times had always backed Moorhouse in his endeavour to build the Lyttelton Rail Tunnel. The rivalry of those newspapers "greatly enlivened" the election. Ward represented Akaroa until the end of the first council in July 1857. Ward was prepared to stand again for Akaroa in the November 1857 election, but when unexpected opposition came up, he withdrew on nomination day (2 November). On the same day, the nomination meeting was held in the Lyttelton electorate, where Ward was also put forward as a candidate. With six candidates contesting four seats, the election was held the following day. Ward returned to Lyttelton at 2 pm on election day, when he was in last place—at the time, voters informed a polling officer orally of their chosen candidate and people kept a tally. After it became known that Ward had not been elected in Akaroa, voting for him picked up, but he ended up in fifth place when polling closed at 4 pm and was thus unsuccessful. Robert Waitt resigned from the provincial council's Lyttelton electorate and Ward was declared elected unopposed at the nomination meeting on 6 October 1858. With effect of 3 February 1860, he resigned from the provincial council as was required by law as he had an interest in a contract for the province. Nothing prevented him from getting re-elected, though, and Ward was returned unopposed on 20 October 1860. He remained on the provincial council until the end of the second council on 24 July 1861. In late August 1861, Ward was one of six candidates for four positions in the Lyttelton electorate of the Canterbury Provincial Council. The election was held just after Ward had joined the 1861–1862 Fox ministry on 2 August and he was at Parliament in Auckland at the time. Ward and Isaac Cookson, another incumbent who was also in Auckland as a member of the House of Representatives, both lost their provincial council seats in the election. The editor of The Press voiced surprise and regret about the Lyttelton election results: There are, however, only three cases of failure among those who desired to be re-elected, and of those only one is of any political significance—we refer to the case of Mr. Ward. And here, in passing, we cannot but express our regret that a gentleman of such eminence, and so distinguished by talent, should have been excluded from a position in which he could scarcely have failed to render some service to the Province. Indeed, the result of the Lyttelton election is altogether a puzzle. We know nothing of the three new candidates beyond that which their addresses communicate.

Ward stood in the 1855 general election for the Christchurch Country electorate. Two seats were available, and the election was contested by four candidates. John Ollivier and Ward were the unsuccessful candidates. When one of the successful candidates of that election—Dingley Brittin—resigned the following year, Ollivier and Ward contested the resulting 1856 Christchurch Country by-election. Ollivier defeated Ward by 191 votes to 120.

Ward represented the Town of Lyttelton electorate from the 1858 Town of Lyttelton by-election to 1866. Initially very shy in Parliament, he became known for taking on a great workload, which saw him rise in prominence. Due to his advocacy for postal transport via steamer, His main task in London was to sell provincial debentures.

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