John Ward

John Ward (1678/9–1758) was professor of rhetoric at Gresham College, London. He attended the Baptist church in Eagle Street, where his pastor during his latter years was Andrew Gifford (1700–84), who was appointed the first assistant librarian at the British Museum in 1757 and later became a member of the Society of Antiquaries. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1723, and contributed articles to the Philosophical Transactions. His major work is his Lives of the Profesors of Gresham College, to which is prefaced the Life of the Founder, Sir Thomas Gresham (1740).  He also published his lectures as A System of Oratory (1759).