 Ford was born at 129 Sloane Street, Chelsea on 21 April 1796, the elder son of Richard Ford (1758–1806), MP 1789–1791, Chief Magistrate at Bow Street and knighted 1801 and his wife Marianne (1767–1849), daughter of Benjamin Booth, East India Company Director and collector of the landscape paintings of Richard Wilson (1713/4–1782).Ford was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Oxford (B.A.1817).