Nathaniel Ward, the son of John Ward, minister of Haverhill, Suffolk, was
the brother of the preachers John Ward and Samuel Ward (ODNB), and
stepbrother of Ezekiel Rogers ( ODNB). He was admitted sizar at Emmanuel
College, Cambridge, in 1596. He graduated BA in 1600, MA in 1603. Ward
studied law and travelled on the continent. In 1618 he was ordained, and
from 1620 to 1624 served as chaplain to English merchants at Elbing, Prussia.
He became curate of St James's Piccadilly, in London, 1626-8. In 1628 Sir
Nathaniel Rich, as patron, presented him as rector of Stondon Massey, Essex.
The Massachusetts Bay Company invited Ward in 1629 to leave for New
England, but he declined. He joined other ministers, notably Thomas Hooker,
to resist the campaign for conformity promoted by William Laud as bishop of
London. On 13 December 1631, eight months after Hooker fled to Holland,
Ward wrote to John Cotton about the pressure he was still under from Laud's
officials. Laud himself interviewed Ward on several occasions. Ward was
suspended, then excommunicated and deprived on 10 December 1632. The
rectory of Stondon Massey was declared vacant in August 1633.
