Background
Lord Dudley was the eldest son of William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, and his wife Rachel (née Gurney).
Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Lord Dudley was the eldest son of William Ward, 2nd Earl of Dudley, and his wife Rachel (née Gurney).
He was educated at Eton.
Dudley was commissioned into the Worcestershire Yeomanry in 1912. In 1914 he transferred to the regular 10th Hussars. After the war, he joined the Staffordshire Yeomanry, becoming a Major and receiving the Territorial Decoration.
In 1933 he was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 51st (Midland) Medium Brigade, Royal Artillery.
He also held the honorary post of High Sheriff of Worcestershire in 1930. Dudley married firstly Lady Rosemary Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower (9 August 1893 - 21 July 1930), only surviving daughter of Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 4th Duke of Sutherland, on 8 March 1919.
Laura went on to marry John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough shortly before his death, and died in 1990. This marriage was also childless.
This child grew up to befriend Princess Margaret during World World War II and marry the American photographer Milton Gendel, with whom she created an artistic salon in Italy.
Mandy Rice-Davies claimed that the Earl was one of the customers at Murray"s Cabaret Club, where she worked as a showgirl, and that he proposed to her when she was seventeen. "I could have been a dowager duchess by the time I was 22." she said. They had several children including the actress and environmentalist Tracy Louise Ward and actress Rachel Ward.
Quotations: "I could have been a dowager duchess by the time I was 22.".
31st United Kingdom Parliament. 32nd United Kingdom Parliament. 33rd United Kingdom Parliament.
36th United Kingdom Parliament]
Dudley sat as Member of Parliament for Hornsey from 1921 to 1924 and for Wednesbury from 1931 to 1932 and served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Under-Secretary of State for India, Lord Winterton, between 1922 and 1924.