Sunday, 31 July 2022

Outwoods sculpture trail

The Outwoods have always been a fascinating place, and I've written about the area in several blogposts over the years, most recently about a walk to the woods, previously about some of the memorial benches, and one that shows some artwork in the Outwoods.

Over the past month or so, there has been a sculpture trail up at the Outwoods, and I finally found time to make the trip to experience this before it finished. I was lucky enough to get to see all the sculptures, so here's some pics of some of my favourites. Artists represented here are Lisa Denham; Alison Folland; Nita Rao; Erica Middleton; Sarah Green; Jo Sheppard, and students from Maplewell Hall School. Apologies that my skill with a camera does not do the works their full justice.















__________________ 

posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

________________

Thank you for reading this blog. You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2022). Outwoods sculpture trail. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/07/outwoods-sculpture-trail.html       [Accessed 31 July 2022]

Take down policy:
I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Blog archive and tags:
If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.  
 
Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne                         

Monday, 25 July 2022

Loughborough Carillon and Carilloneurs Pt 3

In Part 1 of the story of Loughborough carillon, we climbed to the top of the tower and looked out over the town and its surroundings. In Part 2 we talked about the opening of the carillon in 1923, and briefly about Eric Jordan, the first Borough Carilloneur. In this, Part 3, we will find out a little more about another one of Loughborough's early carilloneurs - or maybe that should be carilloneuse?

Eric Jordan, Borough Carilloneur with his pupil, Violet Carrier

Violet Marion Carrier was born on 1st March 1909, to parents George Henshaw Carrier and Mary Ellen (nee Monk) who had married in 1907. Both the marriage of George and Mary Ellen, and the birth of Violet Marion were registered in Nottingham: Mary Ellen had been born in Basford in 1884, and George in Bedford in 1882. By the time of the 1911 census, the family of three had moved to 68 Jakeman Road, Balsall Heath, Birmingham, where George was employed as a clerk for the National Telephone Company Ltd.. By 1913, the family had moved to Atcham, in Shropshire, and Violet now had a younger sister, Gertrude. In 1921 they were still residing in Atcham, where Violet was now aged 12, and Gertrude, 8.

Violet began her working life in the County Library service of Salop, and in August 1927 attended a summer school for library staff at the University of Aberystwyth. One of the events that she attended was the 'fancy costume dance', which took place in Alexandra Hall (1), to which Violet went attired as the 'Lido Lady'. 

It was probably after this summer school that Violet joined the staff of the County Library service at the Loughborough College, as we know that by May 1928 she was taking lessons in carillon playing from Loughborough's carillonnuer, Eric Jordan! In May 1929, the following notice appears in the 'Daily News' (London):

YOUNGEST GIRL BELL-RINGER Miss Violet Carrier, aged 19, of Loughborough, is the youngest woman carillonneur in the world, She will shortly be billed to give recitals on the famous Loughborough war memorial carillon, on which she has been receiving tuition for the past twelve months.

Miss Carrier is the only woman in Britain who has played at a public recital. Mr W. Jordan [i.e. Eric Jordan], a Loughborough carillonneur, attributes her success in carillon playing to her brilliancy as a pianist and the fact that she is a clever athlete, as carillon playing demands physical endurance.” (2)

Violet's first recital on the Loughborough carillon took place on Sunday 2 nd June 1929, and was described thus, in the Western Times’ of Friday 7th June 1929:

“Miss Violet Carrier, aged 20, who is said to be the youngest carillonneur in the world, gave her first public bell recital at Loughborough on Sunday. Miss Carrier has had a year’s training by the borough carillonneur, Mr Eric Jordan. She delighted a big crowd around the war memorial tower in Queen’s Park with her masterly manipulation of the 64 [3] bells, the heaviest of which weighs over four tons. Miss Carrier, who is an assistant in the county library at the Loughborough College, said in an interview that she found bell playing very interesting, but one has to be very fit to perform the task. And courage is needed to ascend to the top of the tower and sit alone before the clavier, hidden from the multitude below in the park.” 

In July 1929 – 24 German secondary school boys visited Loughborough as guests of the local junior college, invited by Principal Schofield, who sought permission from the Town Council for Miss Violet Carrier to give them a recital on the carillon. Violet said that she would be delighted, and loved to play for anyone who was interested. The recital was reported in the Leicester Chronicle’ on Saturday 6th July 1929:

“A unique feat was accomplished at Loughborough when Mr W.E. Jordan, the borough carillonneur, and Miss Violet Carrier, the youngest woman player in the world, played duets at a carillon recital.”

On the same day, a reporter for the 'Leicester Evening Mail' said:

“For the first time on record the German National Anthem has been sung round a British War Memorial … [Violet’s] last item [was] the German National Anthem. Then came the request, ‘Do play it again and we can sing it.’. Miss Carrier willingly obliged, and the song of the fatherland was sung.”

On 6th July 1929 the ‘Leicester Chronicle’ also reported the following:

“A unique feat was accomplished at Loughborough when Mr W.E. Jordan, the borough carillonneur, and Miss Violet Carrier, the youngest woman player in the world, played duets at a carillon recital.”

A report in the 'Daily News' (London) in July 1929 describes Violet's ambitions to give recitals on the 30 or more modern carillons which had been installed in different parts of the US. It was also reported in July that Eric Jordan (Borough Carilloneur), Sidney Potter (Deputy Borough Carillonuer), and Violet Carrier (Honorary Deputy Borough Carilloneur) all performed on the carillon at St Helens Catholic church, Liverpool.

In August 1929, Violet played a week-long series of four recitals a day on the Wellington War Memorial at the North-East Coast Exhibition in Newcastle upon Tyne (4). She was delighted to do this, and enjoyed playing to a large and interesting crowd of around 6,000 who referred to her as being a ‘clivver and canny lass’. Some of these recitals were broadcast on the BBC.

In June 1930, Violet leaves Loughborough to take up a job in a Nottingham architect's office. Despite living in Nottingham, Violet returns to Loughborough every Monday evening to play the carillon, which she does wearing thick gloves, as striking the keys needs to be done forcibly. She doesn’t use piano music, and harmonises much of the works herself, so a good knowledge of harmony is essential to carillon-playing. Loughborough carillon receives lots of overseas visitors, but although BBC broadcasts were made from the carillon in its early days, these broadcasts had been discontinued: but Violet considered that more, brighter music, like that from the carillon, ought to be broadcast on Sundays.

In January 1932, it was proposed that Violet Carrier will go on a tour of the US. Mr Fred Rock, an American carillon expert from Morristown, New Jersey, once declared that Miss Carrier was the finest woman player in the world, after he’d heard her play at Loughborough (5).

In April 1933, Eric Jordan gave an Easter recital, and the interior of the tower was open for the public to visit. Eric hoped to reach the milestone of 1,500 performances this year. Also at Easter, there was a unique recital, performed by Miss Enid Carpenter, MA, who was the honorary deputy carillonneur at Sydney War Memorial Carillon, with Miss Violet Carrier, who was now living in Shrewsbury, and Miss Alma Schepens from Loughborough, who was now one of Eric Jordan’s pupils.

Violet Carrier in 1933

In 1934, Violet Marion Carrier married Dr James Dalton from Wrexham, North Wales, at a ceremony in Shrewsbury.

What happens to Violet in the ensuing years, before her death, which I think was in 2010, at the age of 101, is hazy, but I shan't share my conclusions here. Suffice to say that eventually, in 1946, Violet married Eric George De Salvo. One of Eric's children from his previous marriage was Patrick de Salvo, who, in the early 1960s was training to become an actor.

Patrick attended the Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art, and in August 1963, he was part of the group which played “The Bubonic Plague Show” at St Andrew’s church hall in Edinburgh as part of that year’s Fringe show, with a group called the Mikron Theatre Company.



Sadly, the following report appeared in the 17th September 1964 edition of 'The Stage':



In May 1966, a memorial clock was installed in the Webber Douglas School in memory of Patrick, and of Elizabeth Davey.

Violet and Eric emigrated, and certainly by 1951 they were living in what was then called Northern Rhodesia, today known as Zambia. Although I believe Violet Carrier lived on into the twenty-first century, I have found no evidence that she continued to play the Loughborough carillon after 1934.      

______________ 

Notes

(1) Alexandra Hall had been built in 1896 and opened on 26th June that year by the Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark. It was one of the first female halls of residence to be opened in the UK, and its opening coincided with the installation of the Prince of Wales (later to be Edward VII) as the chancellor of the university. Another Loughborough lady who attended Aberystwyth University (in around 1891) was Edith Gadsby, who married Bernard Nixon Wale.

(2)   According to a report in the 'Daily News' (London) in July 1929, Violet had been learning to play the piano from an early age, and it was her capabilities in this that caused Eric Jordan to initiate her into the art of playing the 47 bells of the memorial tower, and she had already given recitals on the carillon, and was viewed as the finest woman exponent of bell-playing in the world.    

(3) Loughborough carillon actually has 47 bells. 

(4) The Wellington war memorial had been built for New Zealand, but was exhibited temporarily in the UK before being sent to New Zealand

(5) You can hear the carillon of St Paul's Episcopal church Morriston, being played by my uncle.

__________________ 

posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

Thank you for reading this blog. You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2022). Loughborough Carillon and Carilloneurs Pt 3. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/07/loughborough-carillon-and-carilloneurs.html [Accessed 25 July 2022]

Take down policy:
I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Blog archive and tags:
If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'. Alternatively, there is also a complete list of posts, which when clicked will take you to the page you are interested in.  
 
Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne

Tuesday, 19 July 2022

So who was Alfred Bramley Ball?

No.14 High Street, right, 13A, left. Older photo here
   

In last week's guest blog post, we learned from author, Brian Willan, about the life and times of Charles Frederick Ball: this week we will have a quick look at some of his ancestors and siblings.

Alfred Bramley Ball was born early in 1841, in Loughborough, to parents James and Jane (nee Bramley). However, Alfred was not baptised until 22 March 1843, the location of the baptism being cited as ‘the Loughborough Circuit’. On the 1841 census return, Alfred’s parents, James and Jane, and their other two children, James born around 1835, and Sarah around 1836, were living on Mill Street (now Market Street) in Loughborough.

Alfred’s father, James, was born on 26 September 1806, in Loughborough, to parents Stephen Ball, and his wife Milliscent. He was baptised into the Wesleyan church, in Leicestershire, on 6 November 1806, the service possibly conducted by John Denton.  

Alfred’s mother, Jane Bramley, was born on 8 August 1813, in Sutton Bonnington where her father, John was a farmer, and Mary (nee Mee) her mother was a farmer’s wife. Jane was baptised at the Wesleyan chapel on Leicester Road, Loughborough, on 22 June 1815.

I have been unable to trace a marriage for James Ball and Jane Bramley, but might suggest this would have been around 1834, as their two older children were born around 1835 and 1836. Several more children were born to James and Jane after Alfred: Harriett in 1843; George in 1845; John in 1846; Mary Jane in 1848, and Arthur in 1849 – all born in Loughborough. However, by the time of the 1851 census, it appears the family (excluding James and Sarah) have moved to Sutton Bonnington, where James is a farmer of 70 acres, employing one labourer and one boy.

Meanwhile, in 1850, Edward Kirby and his wife, Sarah, celebrated the birth of their daughter, Mary Bowley Kirby, who was born in Ohio, as was her older sister, Martha. In 1851, the family were living in Willoughby on the Wolds, where father, Edward, was a 47-year-old farmer, and mother, Sarah, was aged 33 and was born in Long Whatton. The family was supported by three servants. On 4 June 1860, Edward Kirby, described as a gentleman of Syston, died, and his will was proved by the oath of John Baker of Willoughby, a farmer and the sole executor, on 17 December 1860. Thus, the 1861 census return records that Mary Bowley Kirby was living with her aunt and uncle – William and Caroline Green – in Normanton le Heath, along with her sister Martha, and William and Caroline’s children, Annie, 4, and Horace 1. Anne Pratt, Caroline’s 64-year-old mother was also living with them, as were two servants and a lodger.

Also in 1861, Alfred Bramley Ball’s parents and siblings (Harriett, George, John Bramley, Mary Jane, Arthur) are living on Mill Street, where his father James is now a master baker, and there are two younger siblings, Maria aged 9, and Charles aged 3. Arthur and Maria were born in Sutton Bonnington. Alfred himself was now an apprentice to Thomas Bennett, a master chemist, at a property on High Street, where Bennett had practised since at least 1841, and surgeon William Palmer had occupied the property next door since as early as 1828 (prior to that he was at Fishpool Head). William Palmer was succeeded by his son William Grimes Palmer, operating from the same property.


In 1863, Alfred Bramley Ball’s older brother James is a draper on High Street, while his father, James is still a baker on Mill Street. Sadly, James died on 27 April 1869, and his will was proved in Leicester by Jane Ball, his widow. James was described as a gentleman and his effects were under £300.

James would, no doubt have been proud of his son Alfred, when having completed his apprenticeship with Mr Bennett, on 18 June 1867, Alfred Ball passed the examinations of the Pharmaceutical Society at Edinburgh, and received his Diploma of Membership. By 1871, Alfred Ball, aged 29, was now the pharmaceutical chemist at 14 High Street, where he had served his apprenticeship under Thomas Bennett. His widowed mother, Jane, aged 55, was living with Alfred, along with Alfred’s sister Mary aged 22, brother Charles, a school pupil aged 13, and Mary D. Wilkinson, an annuitant aged 37. Alfred now had an apprentice of his own, one Alfred Holwell, aged 16, and William Grimes Palmer, next door, was now a General Practitioner.

In 1873, both Alfred and his brother James were involved with a meeting of the Select Vestry of the parish of Loughborough, held at the Town Hall on Friday evening, 21 March.

From: 'Leicester Journal' 28 March 1873, pg 8

Alfred Howell, Alfred Ball’s first apprentice, had now moved on and in July 1875, Alfred Ball, the pharmaceutical chemist on High Street, was looking for a ‘respectable, well-educated youth’ to be apprenticed to him.

The following year, on 2 May 1876, Alfred Ball married Mary Bowley Kirby, daughter of Edward Kirby, a farmer, deceased. The marriage took place at All Saints church in Edmonton, Enfield. In 1871, Mary had been living as an annuitant, with her mother Sarah and the latter’s new husband Robert Westhern, at 25 Derby Road, Kegworth, and moved to the property on High Street Loughborough, upon her marriage. Alfred’s brother, James the draper, was also on High Street, and brother John Bramley Ball was a gas engineer and manager at 18 High Street.

Alfred’s life as a parent began in 1877, and Alfred and Mary’s son, Alfred Kirby Ball was baptised into the Loughborough Circuit on 29 June 1877. By April 1878, Alfred’s apprentice had moved on, so he was again looking for a well-educated youth to be his apprentice. On 16 August 1878, Alfred and Mary’s second child, John Bramley Ball, was baptised into the Loughborough Circuit.

Alfred’s mother, Jane, died on 9 February 1879, in Loughborough, and it was Alfred, the chemist and druggist of 14 High Street Loughborough who proved her will. On 13 October 1879, Alfred and Mary had another son, Charles Frederick Ball, who was baptised into the Loughborough Circuit on 14 November 1879.

The 1881 census returns shows that Alfred Ball is still a pharmaceutical chemist at 14 High Street Loughborough (and William Grimes Palmer is still a GP at no. 15), living with his family – wife, Mary, sons Alfred aged 4, John aged 3, and Charles aged 1. They employ Edith Berry as a general domestic servant and Alfred now has an apprentice, Reuben Simmons, aged 16 from Warwickshire. Alfred’s brother, James is still a draper on High Street, and his brother Arthur is a butcher on Biggin Street, while brother, John Bramley is an engineer at the gas works on Green Close Lane.

The next few years see the birth of more children to Alfred and Mary. Herbert Ball was born in 1883, George Wilfred Ball in 1884, and Constance Mary Bowley Ball in 1886. It is around this time that Alfred falls ill, and by August 1887, George J. Baldwin was advertising his business, as a chemist and druggist (by examination) as the successor to Alfred Ball, who had been suffering from paralysis, so had retired from his business. Well-known preparations from the establishment, made from the original recipes of Thomas Bennett and Alfred Ball, were available, including Bennett’s famous diarrhoea mixture, and Ball’s Lavender Water. Other preparations available were the finest cod liver oil. And orange quinine wine. An 1888 street directory lists Alfred’s brother, James as a lace dealer and draper, at 21 High Street, and John Bramley is still an engineer for the gas works, living at 18 High Street.

Alfred and his family had moved to 86 Park Road, and it is here that Alfred, aged 48, died, on 1 September 1889. His will was proved at Leicester on 6 January 1890 by John Bramley Ball (his brother, and one of the executors), who lived at 40 Leicester Road, Loughborough, and was a gas engineer. His effects were £6,229 0s. 7d. John Bramley Ball himself died just 10 years later, on 9 November 1899, leaving £9,386 10s. 1d.


The widowed Mary continues to live at the Park Road property, and in 1891, she is with her sons, Alfred, 14, John, 13, Charles 11, Herbert 8, George, 6, and daughter Constance, 4. They also employ a domestic servant, Alice Fraser, aged 20.

Meanwhile, at 14 High Street, George J. Baldwin continues as the chemist until 1899, and the surgeon next door at no.15 is Dr J.B. Pike, until 1899, when the practice is listed as Pike and Palmer. On the other side of 14, no.13A is occupied from 1895 until 1899 by J. Tebutt the plumber.

1900 sees changes to the properties: the plumber at 13A is now W. H. Backhouse; 14 is occupied by a dentist called Storey, although Pike and Palmer are still the surgeons at no.15.

So, what of the children of Alfred and Mary? In 1903, the High Street changes again, when John Bramley Ball takes over no.14 for a grocery business, and Herbert Ball takes over no.13A as a photography studio.

In 1904, as Herbert Ball is establishing himself as a photographer, he takes a portrait of his brother, Charles Frederick, now aged 24. According to a local street directory, Charles (if this is the same one) is a shopkeeper at 92 Nottingham Road, John Bramley Ball is still a grocer at 14 high Street, where Herbert now has his photographic studio – presumably upstairs. In 1905, although John Bramley is still at no.14 as a grocer, the photography studio seems to be back at no.13A, although it is not Herbert that is listed here, but one H. Nield.

On 13 July 1907, Herbert Ball applied to register the copyright of his photograph of the walnut tree in the garden of 29 London Road, Kegworth, a house that between 1812-1813 had belonged to the Irish poet, Thomas Moore. On the same day, he also applied for his photograph of the study window of the house in Kegworth where the poet Thomas Moore lived. Perhaps he was friends with the Wardle family who lived there at the time, as John Wardle, now a farmer, had previously been a grocer and master baker in Kegworth, and Mary Bowley Kirby, his mother, lived at one time just down the road from them. It was also in 1907 that Frank Newton Nield took over the photography studio at 13A High Street.

George Wilfred Ball, the youngest son of Alfred and Mary, married Annie Hoden from the Lilacs at Leire, Leicestershire, at Leire parish church, on 30 April 1906. George had gone into partnership with his brother, Charles, running a nursery in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire. In March 1906, their Tammadge, Wyandotte, and Payne’s Buff chickens were available for ‘sittings’ at either 3s., or 2s. 6d. per sitting. In August 1906 they were advertising for weekly deliveries of manure, and selling a ‘float’, or possibly exchanging this for a light cart, but by this time, the partnership of Ball Bros, had been dissolved, and George was working the nursery without Charles.

In 1912, John Bramley Ball was no longer the grocer at no.14, instead this was now run by S. Moore. In 1939, John Bramley is living on another High Street, this time in Witney, Oxfordshire, where he is a master grocer. Photographer, Herbert sadly died at a young age, of tuberculosis, and Charles Frederick Ball was killed 13 September 1915, during the First World War.

Eldest child, Alfred, moved to Nottingham, where in 1911 he was a stationers assistant and bookkeeper, living at 12 Hunt Street, Nottingham, with his second wife, and with his daughter by his first wife. He died on 21 August 1922, at Nottingham General Hospital. Probate was granted to his widow, Gertrude Annie Emma Ball, and his effects amounted to £339 6s. 8d.

Youngest son, George Wilfred Ball, was living and farming at Billa Barra Farm, Stanton Under Bardon, in 1911, but by 1939 was a dairy farmer near Cheltenham. On 23 March 1936, Mary Bowley Ball, widow of Alfred, and mother of the six Ball children, of Orchard Cottage, Southam near Cheltenham, died. Her will was proved at Leicester to Constance Mary Bowley Ohlson, “a single woman” (and Mary’s only daughter). The effects were £211 4s. 4d.. Whether George Wilfred moved to Cheltenham to be near his mother, or whether she moved to Cheltenham to be nearer to him, is not known. George Wilfred lived until 1959, leaving effects of £2701 12s. 8d.. Constance, having married Arthur Ohlson in 1911, moved away, and also ended her days in Cheltenham, where she died in 1970, leaving effects of £19,909.

posted by lynneaboutloughborough

With apologies for typos which are all mine!

Thank you for reading this blog. You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2022). So who was Alfred Bramley Ball? Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/07/so-who-was-alfred-bramley-ball.html [Accessed 19 July 2022]

Take down policy:
I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.

Blog archive and tags:
If you are viewing this blog in mobile format, you will not be able to easily access the blog archive, or the clickable links to various topics. These can be accessed if you scroll to the bottom of the page, and click 'View Web Version'.
 
Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne

Sunday, 10 July 2022

The life of an old Loughburian

From botanic gardens, to 'killing fields'

The story of the life, career, and death of Charles Frederick Ball, a native of Loughborough, is told in a new book, "Charles Frederick Ball: from Dublin's Botanic Gardens to the Killing fields of Gallipoli", by author Brian Willan. This is a fascinating account of early promise, a flourishing career, and early death, and I could not put the book down, reading it in one sitting! 

I was so taken with this story of a son of Loughborough, that I asked the author to pen a few words in a guest blog post, and what you read below is Brian's account of his connection to Charles Frederick Ball, and Loughborough. Thank you, Brian.

C.F. Ball, portrait by F. Newton Neild, Loughborough, courtesy of the IWM

Three years ago the name ‘Charles Frederick Ball’ meant very little to me. I knew he had been my grandmother Alice’s first husband, that he had been a horticulturist in Ireland, and that he was killed during the first world war, at Gallipoli. My mother mentioned his name a few times, as did my aunt Eileen – my godmother – who told me she had once met him. She must have been about 6 or 7 years old at the time.

But it was not until after my mother died in 2018 that I began to piece the story together in any kind of detail, intrigued by the discovery of a box of letters – love letters, many of them - which he had written to Alice between 1911 and 1914. She had kept these letters, along with some photographs and a variety of other mementos, and then my mother kept them safe too. When I read them for the first time I decided to investigate further. It was the beginning of a rather longer – and more rewarding – journey than I imagined – and it was intriguing to discover just how much of a name Charles Frederick Ball had made for himself after he took up a job at the Botanic Gardens in Dublin in 1906.

A letter to Alice from C.F. Ball, dated 20 November 1914

This journey of discovery also took me, among other places, to Loughborough because this is where Fred – as he was known to his family and friends – was born and where he spent his early years.

Fred Ball was born in Loughborough on 13 October 1879. His parents, Alfred and Mary, lived at 14 High Street, and the family lived over the shop. Fred’s father, like his father before him, was a pharmacist. It was a well-established business, and census returns indicate that they had an apprentice living with them too.

Fred was their third son, coming after Alfred Kirby Ball and John Bramley Ball. After Fred, there was a gap until Herbert in 1883, George Wilfred in 1884, and lastly a sister, Constance (or ‘Connie’) in 1886.

Everything changed for the family in 1886 when Fred’s father had a stroke, incapacitating him until his death three years later. In between, the business (but not the premises) was sold and the family moved to a new home – at no 86 Park Road.

The Ball family were Methodists, all the children being baptized in the Leicester Road Wesleyan Methodist church where they must have worshipped. That did not prevent the boys attending, when they were old enough, Loughborough Grammar School, where the religion was Church of England.

I was fortunate to have been able to make contact with John Weitzel, the school’s archivist, who dug out and passed on information to me about the records they had relating to Fred’s time at the school.  I am also indebted to him for some splendid photos, along with details of Fred’s academic performance during his time at the school (1893-5).

Quad at LGS, 1895

View across the LGS quad, from the tower, 2021

My favourite is the photo of the football team – Fred is standing in the back row, second from left, next to the three teachers who also played in the team (things were a bit different then). I was also interested to discover that the boy sitting in the front row, Harry Linacre, second from left, later went on to play for Nottingham Forest and England.

LGS football team, 1894-5 (see notes, below)

Fred did well academically, especially in maths and languages, during the two years he spent at the school. No science was taught at this time. In spite of this (or because of it?), Fred developed a passion for botany and resolved to make horticulture his career. Possibly an uncle or other relative may have played a part in this but it is clear he had to make his own way – he was certainly not following in his father’s profession.

His career began with an apprenticeship at the well-known firm of William Barron & Sons, at Elvaston, near Borrowash, in Derbyshire, 16 miles from Loughborough. An elaborate apprenticeship agreement, preserved among the family papers, sets out the terms and conditions, including the requirement that he should not play cards nor ‘haunt Taverns or Playhouses nor absent himself from his Master’s service unlawfully’ (it sounds as though it could date from Elizabethan times!)

So Fred then left home in April 1896, finding lodgings near to his employer, and served the three years of his apprenticeship. Six months after its term ended he left for another job in horticulture – with Peter Barr &Sons in Long Ditton, Surrey, where the firm had a large nursery. He left with a glowing reference: ‘We have always found him very industrious and attentive to his duties and anxious to learn’, wrote John Barron, and wished him well in his desire to ‘better himself elsewhere’.

The place to go if you really wanted to get on in horticulture was the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, just a short distance, as it happens, from Peter Barr & Sons in Surrey. After a year with them he applied to Kew and was accepted, telling them that he had been ‘trying to prepare himself for some time’.  He was three months short of his 21st birthday.

Kew Gardens laid the foundations of Fred’s career. He worked first in the Temperate House, then at the rock garden, and he made the most of his opportunities. He was clearly one of the most able, and most motivated, of his contemporaries there. He gained a number of qualifications, became secretary of the British Botany Society and the Kew Mutual Improvement Society, and one year was the winner of the prestigious Joseph Hooker Prize for the best essay (on ‘Hardy Conifers’).


Temperate House, Kew Gardens, 1902 (colour)

At the end of three years (the period that student gardeners usually spent at Kew) he decided to join his younger brother Wilfred in setting up a nursery and market garden in Keyworth, Nottinghamshire. His two best friends at Kew, by way of contrast, joined the Colonial Service and ended up in Uganda and Malaya respectively.

The family partnership did not prosper, however, and 3 years later – in 1906 –it was dissolved. Fred, in need of employment, returned briefly to Kew before being offered a job as outside foreman at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin, Dublin.

This is where Fred made his name and reputation. He was promoted after 6 months to the position of Assistant Keeper and in 1911 was appointed editor of the monthly journal Irish Gardening. This put him at the centre of a horticulture network that was part of a strong drive to strengthen agriculture in Ireland more generally. He was also a skilled plant breeder, remembered particularly for creating some Escallonia hybrids – most notably the one that would be named after him, Escallonia ‘C.F. Ball’. This can be found in gardens and nurseries to this day and several have been planted in his memory. There is one at the Irish National War Memorial Gardens in Islandbridge, Dublin, and another is in front of the Carillon Tower in Loughborough.

Escallonia 'C.F. Ball', Kilmacurragh, Co. Wicklow

Escallonia 'C.F. Ball' to the rear of Loughborough's Carillon, May 2022

A regular theme in the reports about Fred at Glasnevin is not only how good he was at his job but how well-liked he was. Whilst modest and quite quiet, he seems to have had a gift for friendship and he made a good impression on everybody he came into contact with.

From 1911 a more personal picture emerges for this was when he started to write to Alice Lane – these are the letters I inherited when my mother died.  Alice was the youngest daughter of a well-to-do Anglo-Irish family in Dublin. The letters tell the story of their courtship, or at least his side of it (since it is only his letters to her that have been preserved), and their ups and downs, culminating – after at least one postponement – in their marriage in Dublin in December 1914.

The letters also tell us a lot about relations with his own family. It is obvious that he had a close relationship with his mother Mary, but he was close to his other siblings too, particularly his sister Constance (Connie) who had left Loughborough after marrying her husband Arthur Ohlson in 1911. We also learn of the death of his favourite brother Herbert, from tuberculosis – he had been a professional photographer and had his studio at 14 High Street where the family pharmacy once was.

Charles Frederick Ball, taken by his brother, Herbert, c.1904

When war broke out in August 1914 Fred decided to enlist, as a private, in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He could have returned to England to enlist in a regiment there – like his brother Wilfred who joined the 9th Lancers and then the Leicestershire Yeomanry. But it is obvious that his loyalties now lay in Ireland so Dublin’s local regiment was a natural choice – and of course, it enabled him to see Alice when he had leave or was granted a pass when they were based in Dublin.

Fred was in training with the Fusiliers in Ireland until the end of April 1915, when his battalion – the 7th – joined the 10th (Irish) division for further training in Basingstoke, Hampshire. On at least one occasion he must have returned to Loughborough (though his mother and siblings had all moved away) because a photograph of him, in uniform, was taken by F. Newton Neild, whose business now had the studio at 14 High Street once used by his late brother Herbert. The photo has survived because it was sent by Fred’s mother Mary to the Imperial War Museum in 1917 - and can be seen today on their website.

Fred’s battalion was sent to Gallipoli in August 1915. It was a disastrous campaign. There were many thousands of casualties, and Fred was one of them – killed by Turkish shellfire on 13 September 1915. He was 35 years old (though his gravestone in the Lala Baba cemetery, Suvla Bay, has this as 36). 

Headstone at Lala Baba cemetery, Sulva Bay, Gallipoli

Residents of Loughborough read of his death in the Loughborough Echo on 8 October in an obituary that appeared under the headline ‘Old Loughburian killed in the Dardanelles’. It looks to me, from the information it conveys, as though it was written by his mother, or was at least based on information supplied by her.



Others who were with him in Gallipoli told of his fascination with the plants and flowers he found around him, amidst all the horrors of war, and of the acts of bravery they witnessed. ‘Letters from soldiers in the same detachment received since his death’, wrote Sir Frederick Moore, Keeper of the Botanic Gardens in Dublin, ‘give instances of bravery and self-sacrifice unostentatiously performed, and of which no hint is given in his own letters’.

In the newspaper obituaries in Ireland there was also a keen awareness of the nature of his contribution to horticulture – he was, the Irish Times said, after reviewing his accomplishments, ‘One of the best-known botanists and horticulturists in Ireland’. It is gratifying that his memory, and details of his life and career, have been preserved in the splendid Loughborough war memorial, roll of honour

C.F. Ball commemorated in the first column on the Loughborough Carillon and War Memorial

As for Alice, my grandmother: she stayed on in their home in Dublin and in 1918, after learning how to drive, joined the Women’s Royal Air Force. She was based at Tallaght aerodrome, just outside Dublin, before being demobilized in 1919. It must have been around this time that she met my grandfather, Major Robert Kinghan, who had served with the Royal Irish Fusiliers on the western front, and remained in the army, based in Dublin, during the turbulent period of the Irish war of independence. They were married in London in 1922 and they decided to make their home in England rather than Ireland. Which I suppose is why I ended up a British and not an Irish citizen.

Major Robert Kinghan, MC, portrait, c.1917

Brian Willan

2 July 2022 

If you would like to know more, I have told Fred Ball’s story in more detail – and with over 100 photographs - in my book, Charles Frederick Ball: from Dublin’s Botanic Gardens to the Killing Fields of Gallipoli (Liffey Press, May 2022). 

It is available from bookshops and online sellers like Amazon 

_______________

About Brian Willan

Brian Willan is a grandson of Alice Ball by her second marriage. A former publisher, he has written and edited a number of books in the field of South African history and holds honorary fellowships at several South African universities. He lives in Devon, England.

____________________

Notes by lynneaboutloughborough

The photograph of the LGS football team 1894-5 includes Mr Woodward, about whom I have written previously, and the two Eddowes boys I would assume to be the sons of Dr Arthur Benjamin Jackson Eddowes - probably Arthur, seated, and John Henry, standing.

__________________________  

Thank you for reading this blog. You are welcome to quote passages from any of my posts, with appropriate credit. The correct citation for this looks as follows:

Dyer, Lynne (2022). The life of an old Loughburian. Available from: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2022/07/the-life-of-old-loughburian.html  [Accessed 10 July 2022]

Take down policy:
I post no pictures that are not my own, unless I have express permission so to do. All text is my own, and not copied from any other information sources, printed or electronic, unless identified and credited as such. If you find I have posted something in contravention of these statements, or if there are photographs of you which you would prefer not to be here, please contact me at the address listed on the About Me page, and I will remove these.
Thank you for reading this blog. 

Lynne