On This Day: William Hubert BALL, born 4 Jan 1898

The other day, a cousin of mine asked if I had any biographical information on our grandfather, William Hubert BALL - specifically, his World War One service.  I had a few things, but they were scattered around my many folders, and so had to be drawn together to make a sensible pdf.  (Genealogist's Clue: you may actually have more information than you realise; it's just that when it is separated neatly into several organised-to-within-an-inch-of-their-life folders, you may not have connected the dots).

William Hubert BALL, 4 Jan 1898-19 Apr 1967

William Hubert served in Italy during World War One in the 8th Battalion, Devonshire Regiment.  He was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 1919. "To be awarded the MSM, an individual must have "good, faithful, valuable and meritorious service, with conduct judged to be irreproachable throughout". [Wikipedia]


8th (Service) Battalion, The Devonshire Regiment was raised at Exeter on the 19th of August 1914 as part of Kitchener's First New Army and joined 14th (Light) Division as Divisional Troops.

In May 1915 they left the Division, having completed training, but a lack of ammunition delayed them and it was not until the 26th of July that they proceeded to France, landing at Le Havre.

On the 4th of August 1915 they joined 20th Brigade, 7th Division. They were in action in The Battle of Loos. [One of William Hubert's older brothers, Alfred Eli, was killed on the first day of action]

In 1916 They were in action during the Battles of the Somme, including the capture Mametz, The Battle of Bazentin, the attacks on High Wood, The Battle of Delville Wood, The Battle of Guillemont and the Operations on the Ancre.

In 1917 They fought during The German retreat to the Hindenburg Line and the flanking operations round Bullecourt during The Arras Offensive, before moving to Flanders for the Third Battle of Ypres, seeing action in The Battle of Polygon Wood, The Battle of Broodseinde, The Battle of Poelcapelle and The Second Battle of Passchendaele. [Another of William Hubert's brothers, Walter Harold, was killed at the Battle of Arras]

In late 1917 the 7th Division was selected to move to Italy. They took up position in the line along the River Piave,in late January 1918. The Division played a central role in crossing the Piave, in October and the Battle of Vittoria Veneto.
[http://www.wartimememoriesproject.com/greatwar/allied/devonshirergt8-gw.php]

WHB is in the front row, second from the right

52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History - Teachers

There were several teachers on whom I had mad crushes - I won't reveal their names to avoid my own embarrassment (!) - but there were also teachers to whom I owe my foreign language accents.

I was fortunate enough to have a Spanish lady as one of my Spanish teachers and a French lady as one of my French teachers.  They developed my accent so it was much purer; so that I didn't sound like an English girl speaking a foreign language.

In my second year of a bi-lingual secretarial course at college, part of the curriculum was to take a job for three weeks in France.  I was fortunate enough to be offered one of the top jobs: three weeks at Laura Ashley's HQ in Paris.  While I was there I got my ears pierced.  My mother wouldn't let me get my ears pierced in our local town, so I figured that Paris was far enough away from her to get my ears done... The jeweller was very kind, but afterwards asked me where I came from.  When I answered that I was English, his face cleared in relief, and he said (in French, of course) that he thought I sounded French, but a French girl would have screamed and had hysterics; when he understood that I was English, he understood that of course I would be stoic... So my French accent was good enough to fool a Frenchman.  Now that was a high compliment, I felt, and I was so grateful to my French teacher.

And I found that it works both ways: when you are taking French or Spanish dictation and writing in French or Spanish shorthand, it helps to have a good accent because then you can understand whatever you are hearing.

Those Places Thursday: Arras Memorial

I've never been here.  I expect my great-uncle, Walter Harold BALL, wished he wasn't here either.  Well, I'm sure he was proud to be here as a soldier, alive in a battle, but not where he ended up - as a name on a memorial.

Arras Memorial, France

In July 2010, I was overwhelmed by the kindness of Jo Francis of Milton Keynes, who offered to take photos of the Arras Memorial for me.  We had never met, didn't even know one another, and yet she made this offer on a genealogy mailing list we both belong to.  Now, I knew I would never be able to afford to get to the Pas de Calais in France to visit this Memorial, so I gratefully accepted her offer.

I never met Walter Harold BALL, my maternal grandfather's brother, either.  He died on 3 May 1917 aged only 24.

Serjeant Ball, W. H. MM (centre of photo)

Happy Christmas, Uncle Walter.  And thank you.