Maurice Ward
- Positions
- Cook
- Dog Keeper
- Laborer
- Years in President's House
- circa 1923 – 1928
- Legal Status
- Free Person
- Gender
- Male
- Race/Ethnicity
- Black or African American
- Presidency
- Calvin Coolidge
- Biography
The first confirmed reference to Maurice Ward’s work at the White House is in a 1923 city directory, which listed him as a laborer on staff.1 The following year, the directory listed him as assistant cook at the White House.
In 1927, newspapers reported: “Maurice Ward has been promoted from the White House kitchen to have charge of the White House pets, a post of some responsibility under President Coolidge and one which carries with it considerable publicity and the unofficial designation of ‘master of hounds.’”2 Ward succeeded Wilson Jackson in the role, and “won his advancement by attention to the pets while they were with the President and Mrs. Coolidge in South Dakota.”3 By 1928, another man named Robert R. Robinson was named master of hounds by the press, suggesting that Ward may have departed or been replaced. Further information about his life is scarce.4
- It is possible he began working there earlier, but 1923 is the first directory to explicitly list the White House as his place of work. Boyd’s Directory of the District of Columbia Vol. LXV (Washington, D.C.: R.L. Polk and Co, 1923), pg. 1601; Boyd’s Directory of the District of Columbia (Washington, D.C.: R.L. Polk and Co, 1924), pg. 1453.
- “New Master of Hounds Is Named By Coolidge,” The Springfield Daily Republican, September 15, 1927, pg. 11; Catherine I. Hackett, “Washington Wakes Up Again,” The Woman Citizen Vol. XII (June-December 1927), pg. 16; “White House Gets New Master of Hounds to Handle Collies and Rest of Pets,” Evening Star, September 14, 1927, pg. 17, Chronicling America, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn83045462/1927-09-14/ed-1/.
- Ibid.
- “White House Pets Will Go West,” Daily Local News (West Chester, PA), June 23, 1928, pg. 6.
- Birthplace
- Unclear from Context
- Unclear from Context
- Related Workers
- Wilson JacksonGardens, Grounds, and Flower Shop, 1907 – 1927
- Robert R. RobinsonHousekeeping and Laundry, Gardens, Grounds, and Flower Shop, Valets, Lady's Maids, and First Family Attendants, circa 1928 – 1929