Hello Averell
Citer :
First of all, have you checked as you intended to do in your last post if the Ensign Ward was present at the exhumation in 1840?
The only source of information stating his presence is A. Chaplin's "Who is who". I have some doubts though, that Chaplin may have mistaken, because I couldn't find any other source confirming this. But I didn't have the time to dig into this further, to tell the truth. If you have the time, find more details of the life of General John Ward (it's the same than ex Enseign Ward) who died in 1878.
Citer :
What about those two sketches he drew in 1821 that you talked about? Can we find them somewhere on the net? Do you have a copy of them that you could scan for us?
Ward gave them to Burton's family who sent young Mrs Burton to Paris to give all their Napoleon's relics to the new Napoleon III. But she was turned away... Maybe Napoleon III believed she was some intriguant. Captain Burton should have written to Paris before sending his inexperienced wife to ask an audience to the Emperor of the French! In another hand, Napoleon III received the sketch from Rubidge. So the Ward sketches were probably returned to Ward after this failure. Then they must have been sold at auction at his death. I have no trace of them.
Citer :
I find it very surprising that Ward did not say anything about the fake mask made up by Antommarchi in 1833. He should have tried to defend the honour of the late doctor Burton. If this man has left us his memoirs, I bet they should be interesting to read.
Maybe he did. In France too, some people found the mask too good to be true. Even in 2004, we question this mask which is too perfect for a man ~ 2 days after his death. People at the time most thought that the mask had been "arranged" for the posterity.
If you find anything concerning General John Ward, let me know.