[1] He was commissioned sub-lieutenant in the 2nd Royal Lanarkshire Militia in December 1873, and transferred to the 2nd West India Regiment in February 1874.

In January 1880 the department changed its name to the Commissariat and Transport Staff and Ward became a Deputy Assistant Commissary-General in the new organisation.

In December 1888 the department underwent yet another change, becoming the Army Service Corps, with its officers now holding full military rank.

Lord Salisbury directed him to take up the position of Permanent Under-secretary at the War Office under Secretary St John Brodrick.

When war broke out in 1914, he was asked by Lord Kitchener what preparations needed to be made for the troops expected to arrive from various countries in the British Empire who would be camped on Salisbury Plain before being dispatched to the front line in Europe.

After the war, in retirement, Ward became Commander-in-Chief of the Special Constables, holding that office until 1925, and was a President of the Union Jack Club,[7] and Chairman of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals In 1880 he married Florence Caroline Simons (1858–1934).

Together with Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 3rd Marquess of Dufferin and Ava and Viscountess Ednam, he died when their aeroplane returning to London from Le Touquet exploded in midair over Meopham, Kent.