Photograph of Commodore Ward, a three-quarter length portrait of a man in naval uniform sitting on a balustrade, left leg straight, right leg bent; holds hat with right hand on right knee and sword in left hand.

Having joined the Royal navy in 1843, William John Ward was promoted to the position of Admiral Superintendent of the Malta Dockyard in 1885. He was promoted to the rank of full Admiral in 1892.

This is a photograph from one of the nine albums compiled following Prince Albert Victor (1864-92) and Prince George of Wales' (1865-1936) world tour aboard HMS Bacchante from 1879 to 1882. The photographs were collected by their chaperon and tutor, John Neale Dalton.

The majority of the images in these albums are topographical views and architectural studies, loosely arranged according to the group’s itinerary. They include photographs of artefacts, local people and public figures, as well as portraits of the princes taken during the tour. The attempt to recreate the experience of a journey through such an assortment of images is common to many amateur travelling albums of this period. In 1886, some of the photographs in the albums were reproduced as engravings in the published accounts of the voyage, The Cruise of Her Majesty's Ship Bacchante, 1879-1882.