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

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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]

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