He died unmarried in 1731, when the titles were passed on to his uncle, William Ward.
He was born posthumously,[1] and so succeeded to his father's baronies at birth.
In 1712, during his minority, one of the first Newcomen steam engines was erected within his Coneygree Park, in Tipton west of Dudley Castle, so as to drain coal mines there.
The entailed estate and the title Baron Ward passed to his heir male, a cousin William Ward (later 1st Viscount Dudley and Ward), whereas the title Baron Dudley and certain estates more recently purchased (and thus not entailed) passed to Ferdinando Dudley Lea, 11th Baron Dudley, the son of a sister of the 10th Baron.
[3] This led to a dispute over the ownership of a steam engine standing on the entailed property, ultimately resolved in favour of Lord Dudley, who therefore removed the engine to his own property at Russell's Hall, Dudley.