Bernard Mordaunt Ward (20 January 1893 – 12 October 1945) was a British author and third-generation soldier most noted for his support of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship and writing the first documentary biography of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
[1] At age 18 he entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, as a cadet and in 1912 was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant into the 1st King's Dragoon Guards.
He was a groupist, with Sir Francis Bacon as the chief editor and organizer,[3] and published several articles and a book about the Shakespeare authorship question.
[7] Ward published several articles in scholarly journals announcing his discovery that Oxford was the author of works attributed to George Gascoigne, and in 1926 he published a reprint edition of Gascoigne's A Hundreth Sundrie Flowres, which included an introduction advancing the theory that it was in fact compiled and edited by Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.
Prevented by his publishing house from openly supporting the Oxfordian theory in the book, he was content to provide tacit support, portraying Oxford as a remarkable Renaissance man: a highly educated and well-travelled courtier, soldier, scholar, poet, playwright, patron of the arts, theatrical entrepreneur – in short, the perfect fit for the portrait of the author as determined by Looney's biographical reading of Shakespeare's works.
Ward's biography has been criticized by historians for suppressing details of Oxford's life and putting aspects of his career and relationships in a favourable light.