Alfred Ward was apparently the son of George Ward (a cutler) and his wife, Mary.  He was baptised in Sheffield on 21 August 1796.  In 1820, when he married Ellen (or Eleanor) Sandys, he was a table knife manufacturer.  By the mid-1820s, he was listed as table knife manufacturer and general dealer in hardware at 100 Fargate.  In 1831, he announced that he had opened a ‘General Furnishing Ironmonger Establishment’ at 106 Fargate, corner of Church Street.   Ward promised a good choice of goods from manufactories at Sheffield, Birmingham, and Wolverhampton.  He also offered a job for an apprentice (Sheffield Independent, 13 August 1831).   In the General Directory of … Sheffield (1833), he took out a full-page advertisement as a table knife manufacturer and general dealer in hardware.  In the following year, he offered weighing machines, sugar mills, bell hanging, and smith work.  Ward needed a smith, preferably ‘a clever workman’ (Sheffield Independent, 25 January 1834).   

Ward’s wife, Eleanor, died on 23 December 1833, aged 38, ‘after a short illness’ (Sheffield Independent, 28 December 1833).  She was buried at St Paul’s, the register stating her name as Ellinor.  Two years later, Alfred Ward married again: this time to Margaret, daughter of John Mereton.   She died on 24 March 1836, aged 33.  His third wife was Matilda, daughter of the late C. Taylor, whom he had married in 1839.  The Taylors may have been involved with saw making.   Ward left his Fargate premises in 1841.  He moved to 53 Carver Street, where he was listed as a saw and weighing machine manufacturer.  He died at his residence at Gell Street on 26 September 1849, aged 54.  His grave is at Ecclesall churchyard.   His wife, Matilda, survived him until 1875.