Henry Ward

Henry Ward was born in Peckham, London, the son of tailor Edward John Ward and Susannah Ward. He arrived in Hastings in his late twenties after being articled at architectural practices in London and Paris. Ward briefly worked for and under the guidance of architect Walter Liberty Vernon and during the 50 years he worked in the town he designed buildings from his architectural practice at 8 Bank Buildings.

One of his first designs was the listed Gothic Revival Hastings Town Hall (1881) in Queens Road, which originally included the Police Court with cells. He also designed Bexhill Town Hall (1895). He was responsible for a number of churches in Hastings and around Sussex including the United Reformed Church in Robertson Street, Hastings, St Johns, Bexhill, St Stephens, Bexhill, and The Chapel in Priory Road. In 1907 he added the Lady Chapel to the Holy Trinity Church, Hastings. The commercial buildings he designed include the print-works and offices for Observer Building, Hastings, with its unique for the area terracotta-glazed frontage produced by the brick company Ibstock Hathernware. As of December 2019, the building is being brought back into use under the stewardship of Jess Steele. Besides this, he designed a number of stores around South East England for the Plummer Roddis chain of department stores, the Buchanan Hospital women's wing at St Leonards-on-Sea, the listed tiles and bar at the Havelock Public House, the Buccaneer Public House in Eastbourne, as well as changes to the front of the Queen Victoria Hotel in St Leonards-on-Sea.

• Sedlescombe Congregational Chapel, Sedlescombe (1879 – attributed) • Hastings Town Hall, Queens Road - Police Court & cells (1881) • Robertson Street United Reformed Church, Hastings (1884) • St John's Congregational Church, Bexhill-on-Sea (1897) • St Stephen's Church, Bexhill-on-Sea (1898) • Bexhill Town Hall, Bexhill-on-Sea (1898) • South Street Free Church, Eastbourne (1903) • Redlake Congregational Church, Ore (1903; demolished 1978) • Buchanan Hospital (Elizabeth Mason Wing), St Leonards-on-Sea (1907) • Lady chapel at Holy Trinity Church, Hastings (1907) • Brightling Mission Church, Hollingrove (1909) • F.J. Parsons Printworks (Observer Building), Hastings • Buccaneer public house, Eastbourne • Changes to frontage of Queen Victoria Hotel, St Leonards-on-Sea • Refit of the bar and the tile murals at Havelock public house • Plummer Roddis (Debenhams) department store, Hastings (1927) • Alterations to The Gothic House, Western Road, Brighton for Plummer Roddis (c. 1920)