Winifred Mary Ward

Who was Winifred Mary Ward?

Winifred Mary Ward was the sister of Francis Kingdon Ward. She was one of the founders of modern speech therapy.

She never married, devoting her life to her work and to her brother. She was also known as Winifred Kingdon-Ward by association.

Her first career was as a singing teacher, but after World War I she was so affected by the plight of shell shock victims that she turned most of her attention to trying to help them.

She began working at the West London Hospital in Maida Vale and at Pembury in Kent, helping traumatised men to speak. She then began to take on students and eventually set up the London hospitals school of speech therapy.

She was a founder fellow of the College of Speech Therapists now the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists.

She wrote several books on the subject of speech therapy, as well as poems for children and poems specifically for use in teaching aspects of speech.

Publications This is by no means a complete list

'Stammering; a Contribution to the Study of its Problems and Treatment' 1941

'A book of rhymes and jingles for children from four to fourteen, for the use of speech therapists and teachers of the spoken word' Black 1954