Ward was born in Eccles, Lancashire, the daughter of a journalist Blakeney. She was educated privately at home and later attended the Royal College of Art where she won a scholarship and five silver medals before continuing her studies in Paris. She was elected as Vice President of the Society of Women Artists in 1917, serving as President from 1923 to 1931. She was a friend and painting companion of Helen Seddon and Dorothea Sharp, the latter serving as her Vice President at the SWA. Although known to have spent holidays painting plein air in Cornwall she was best known as a society portrait painter in the years between the wars. Her sitters included the suffragist Mary Collin, the poet Robinson Jeffers and a smattering of aristocrats. Her work was exhibited at the Royal Academy and Paris Salon.