Born 28 July 1866 at Chard, Somerset, the second son and fifth child of Samuel Forward, solicitor, and Frances Elizabeth Brown, his wife. He entered Sherborne School in summer term 1879 and left in 1884. He left England for Antigua, BWI in December 1891, after receiving his medical education at St Thomas's Hospital. He acted as medical officer for the Island, was the first resident surgeon to be attached to the Holberton Hospital, and was a member of the Legislative Council, a Justice of the Peace, and a surgeon captain in the Volunteer Defence Force. He returned to England in April 1899 and was appointed deputy medical officer to HM Prison, Dartmoor, on 6 February 1900; deputy medical officer, HM Prison, Pentonville, in April 1908; deputy medical officer and deputy governor of HM Prison, Holloway, November 1910; medical officer, HM Prison, Maidstone, August 1921; senior medical officer, HM Prison, Parkhurst and Camp Hill, January 1924. He retired from the prison service on 3 March 1930. For a time he was medical officer in charge of the venereal department of the Great Northern Central Hospital. He married on 16 July 1894 Jane Elizabeth Miller McDonald, who survived him with one son. He had a sound knowledge of sanitation, hygiene, and public health, and was an advocate for cremation in Antigua. He died on 2 July 1934 at 12 West Park, Nottingham.