Roy Ward, son of Manasseh and Madeline

Roy Ward driving Gosford Lad. 
(Photo courtesy Central Coast Council)

Roy Archer Ward was born at Etna Street Gosford in April 1887, the son of Manasseh Ward and Madeline Geary Henderson.  He had two older sisters, Josephine who was ten and Madeline eight. He also had two brothers, William who was seven and Robert five. Three other brothers had died in infancy.

The family remained in the Etna Street until 1991 when they moved into a new house in Gertrude Street. The House was named ‘Myee’ and would be Roy’s home for 30 years. The Gosford of Roy’s youth was very different to the city it has become today. It was effectively a small country town and the family home was set in two acres of gardens, orchards poultry yards and horse yards. No doubt Roy’s childhood chores including feeding and caring for the family livestock, and he remained dedicated to horse-drawn transport for most of his life.

Roy’s father, Manasseh Ward, was heavily involved in many aspects of the Gosford community. Shortly after Roy’s birth Manasseh was elected to the local Council and he went on to serve as an alderman, mayor, and shire president. 

Roy had an accident as a child and lost an eye. He had been playing with his brothers when the accident happened. He coped very well with one eye, although it may have contributed to several accidents he had over the years. It must have been hard for him to watch his brother Bruce and many of his friends march away to fight in WWI. His eye would have prevented him from enlisting himself, but he was a loyal friend to those who went away. In September 1916 he placed an ‘In Memoruim’ notice in the Gosford Times:

In loving memory of my dear friend Trooper Tom Gardiner, 7th Light Horse, died of wounds, September 3rd, 1915 … Inserted by his sorrowing mate. Roy Ward. 

He continued to place similar notices every year on the anniversary of Tom’s death for the following seven years.

While his siblings and friends steadily married off over the years, Roy remained steadfastly single. He was said to have ‘kept company’ with the same young woman in Gosford for over seven years, but when asked about his intentions he replied that there was no sense ‘rushing things’. As it turned out he never married.

Roy lived in a small house on the Pacific Highway. His niece June Frewin nee Ward recalls that the house was little more than a shack. He was in constant contact with his extended family, many of whom lived within walking distance of his home. His nieces and nephews would often be sent to deliver produce from the garden or messages and would sometimes accompany Roy in his sulky when he did his mail run. It is likely that Roy was the only one of his family to remain in contact with his younger Brother Bruce after he left his family and moved to New Zealand.  Bruce was probably in disgrace within the family, but Roy remained loyal and passed on news to the rest of the family.

Like some of his brothers and nephews, Roy worked as an agricultural worker. He would take on contract ploughing, fencing or almost any farm work that was needed at the time. It was not always an easy life and Roy’s finances were often on the borderline. His name can be found in the court reports in local paper several times over the years, when he was taken to court for non-payment of debts. He sometimes worked for his brother Pat, carting coal for the boiler at Gosford Quarries. There would often be a convoy of horses dragging a dray of coal. 

Roy survived several serious accidents over the years. In 1924 he was struck by a crane while loading stone at the railway yards.  He received a nasty injury to his jaw. The following year, he was thrown from a trotting ‘spider’ at the Wyong show and suffered life-threatening head injuries (see below). Then in 1940 he suffered a broken leg and collar bone when hit by a car while riding his horse at Wyoming.  We can only speculate whether Roy’s blindness on one side contributed to some of these accidents.

He also worked as a mail contractor carrying mail between the Post Office and Railway Station in a horse and sulky. At the same time, he delivered mail to homes in the Wyoming area on horseback. He held the railway mail contract until 1950, but continued his mail deliveries for another four years, finally retiring in 1954, aged 67. On his retirement, the residents of Wyoming took up a collection and presented Roy with an armchair, rug, clock and an amount of cash in recognition of his long service to the community. 

Roy was also the caretaker at the Showground which would have fitted in well with his training of trotting horses.

Roy Ward was a well-known identity in Gosford and even in the 1950s he could be seen around the town with his horse Bonny harnessed to a sulky. He was so well known that when his neighbour wanted to sell a tractor in 1952, he advertised his address as ‘next to Roy Ward’s’.  His house was on the Pacific Highway, only a short walk from his old family home in Gertrude Street. It was little more than a hut, but he lived happily there until he died.

Trotting horses

Roy would have been encouraged to join in many of his father’s community activities including the St John’s Ambulance and the Show Society, but the activity that Roy took to with passion was the racing of trotting horses.

As a young man he frequently drove his father’s trotters in local races. In 1912 when a new trotting track was opened in Gosford, Roy drove his father’s horse Dot, which was placed second in the first heat of the District Handicap Trot. The ‘purse’ at stake for the final of the race was just that, a purse containing five sovereigns (a sovereign was a gold coin with a nominal face value of £1). 

He soon advanced to owning, training, and racing his own horses. By 1920 he was being described as ‘the most enthusiastic trotting man in the Gosford District’.  Through the 1920s he raced three horses named Hazelwood, Colorado and Gosford Lad. Gosford Lad was a particularly good horse and won many races in Sydney, Newcastle, Gosford and Maitland. In later times he also raced a horse called Johnny Mark.

Roy was driving Gosford Lad in a race at the Wyong Show in 1925 when a tyre on the ‘spider’ blew out and the vehicle overturned. Roy had the reins wrapped around his arms and was dragged around the track underneath the overturned vehicle, with the horse madly kicking to try to get loose from the tangled wreckage dragging behind him. When Roy was finally freed, he had sustained serious head injuries. He was rushed unconscious to a small hospital run by a Wyong Doctor.  There was initial concern that Roy might not recover, but after several days he slowly started to improve and eventually made a full recovery.

The racing community quickly rallied to help Roy through his recovery, and several race meetings were organised with the proceeds handed to Roy in cash. 

Gosford Lad was not injured but he was put down the following year after an off-track incident. Roy was riding Gosford Lad while moving some other horses. While traversing a steep hill, he had to turn sharply, and Gosford Lad broke a leg. 

Roy’s financial difficulties plagued his racing and several of his horses were sold over the years to clear his debts. Colorado was sold to Western Australia where he had a very successful racing career. 

Endings

In August 1958, the baker called in to deliver bread to Roy and found he had died the previous evening. Roy was found sitting in his armchair. This was probably the same chair that had been presented to him by the Wyoming community four years earlier. He was 58 years old and was survived by his sisters Josephine, Madeline, Amy and Dolly (Doris) and his brothers William, Ephraim, Eric and Bruce. He is buried at Point Claire cemetery in Gosford and his grave is marked by a plaque erected by his nephew Les Ward (Eric’s son).