Born into a family of painters, Ward first exhibited his work in 1867 while he was a student at Eton College. After studying architecture briefly, he joined the Royal Academy schools, London, in 1871. The painter Sir John Everett Millais (Millais, Sir John Everett, 1st Baronet) was favourably impressed by Ward's caricatures and was instrumental in bringing him to the attention of Vanity Fair, which was looking for a new caricaturist. Beginning in 1873 Ward was a regular contributor to Vanity Fair. Over the years he pictured a wide assortment of notables, including politicians, authors, judges, musicians, and generals. Reproduced by lithography, the prints had wide circulation. His recollections, Forty Years of Spy, appeared in 1915. He was knighted in 1918.