John Ward was elected ARA in 1956 and RA in 1966, but resigned in 1997. He was also a member of the Royal Watercolour Society, the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and the New English Art Club. Known as the artist from whom the then-Prince of Wales received his first professional lessons in painting, he was appointed CBE in 1985 (he said: ‘I love medals and orders and dingle-dangles and I shall certainly wear mine all the time’). His works can be found in the Tate Britain and National Portrait Gallery.

Although portraiture was his bread-and-butter, his Who’s Who entry listed ‘book illustration’ as his recreation.