Statistics say that every passenger or driver of a motor vehicle in the United States will be involved in one major automobile accident in that person’s lifetime. That’s a harrowing thought, but I can attest that I have experienced my major crash when I was in college. However, I wasn’t driving when an old man stepped out in front of the WV van my chums and I were riding in. He was killed instantly. Even writing that sentence sends chills through me 40 years later.
Mary King Ward was one such victim of a vehicle crash. Mary was an Irish scientist and astronomer with a reputation for attention to detail in her scientific publications. She also published some scientific books designed for public consumption which proved popular during her lifetime. She married Henry Ward, an wealthy Irishman, and together the couple had a large family.
I wanted to talk about Mary since she, too, died as a result of a car accident. Mary’s accident happened when she was only 42 in August of ’69. The story goes that she and Henry were riding in the vehicle with two brothers, Richard and Charles Parsons, and a family friend near the town of Birr in County Offaly. The Parsons were part of a wealthy family and their car was special. They wanted to show it off to the Wards, so the couple were excited to take a short drive in the Parsons’ new ride. As the car rounded a curve, it flipped. Mary was thrown out of the car. The back wheels ran over Mary and broke her neck almost instantly. A doctor who lived nearby arrived on the scene quickly, but there was obviously nothing he could to to save Mary.
The Parson brother who was driving the car was distraught and could not be consoled. He soon had the vehicle junked. Henry and his children grieved their wife and mother for years. Her promising career in the scientific community was, sadly, cut short by the car wreck.
As I said, all of that happened back in ’69–1869. The Parson Brothers had invented a prototype of a steam-powered car, and Mary was in that vehicle when she was thrown out and killed.
Mary Ward is thus the first casualty of a motor vehicle accident.
The Rest of the Story 