Lance Corporal Frank Ernest Ballard was born 28 December 1892 in Clapham, London, England, the son of John William and Eliza Ballard. When the National Census was conducted throughout the UK in 1911, Frank was 19, working as an ironmonger's assistant, and living at home at 340A Clapham Road, Stockwell, in south London. Frank’s older brother George Harry, who was 29, was an unemployed Royal Navy seaman, and he too was living at home, along with three sisters, Lillian Mary, age 25, Hilda, age 16, and Alice Maud, age 14. Their father, John William Ballard, was a church worker, with the Presbyterian Church, and it seemed there was accommodation provided, as the address in the Census records was “Church House”. Both Frank’s parents were born on the Isle of Wight. Eliza had borne 10 children, 4 of whom had died.
Sometime during the next 2-3 years (1911-1914) Frank migrated to New Zealand where he found work with the Wellington Gas Company. His military personnel file records his occupation with the Gas Company as variously clerk, gas filler, and gas fitter. When he enlisted he was living at the residence of Mrs Styles, Woodlands Road, Johnsonville, and his next of kin was noted to be his mother, Mrs J.W. Ballard, 340A Clapham Road, London, England.
On his attestation papers filled out when he joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on 10 August 1914, Frank said he had served with the 1st Surrey Rifles, London. His physical description recorded on 10 August 1914 states that his ‘apparent age’ was 22 years 7 months old, he was 5 foot 5 inches tall, weighed 9 stone 5lbs (60.33 kg) and his chest measurements were 33 inches (minimum) and 35 inches (maximum). His complexion was described as ‘medium’, and he had brown eyes and dark brown hair. While he had no deformities and agreed to be vaccinated he did have “several bad teeth”. Not surprisingly his declared religious profession was Presbyterian.
Frank was sent as part of the Samoan Advance Party, 5th Regiment, A Company, to Apia on 15 August 1914 on the HMNZT “Monowai”. His regimental number was 1/151. Samoa had been a German Protectorate from 1900 but capitulated to the New Zealand forces on 29 August 1914 without incident.
Frank remained on active service in Samoa until he returned to New Zealand 3 April 1915 on board HMNZT[i] No 16 “Tulune” and was discharged by his request on 14 April 1915.
Six months later, on 19 October 1915, Frank joined up again with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He initially joined the 9th Wellington Regiment, E Company, and then on 10 March 1916 transferred to the 2nd Wellington Infantry Battalion. This time his physical description, carried out on 6 September 1915 by Dr W M Shand, was slightly different to that recorded in August 1914. His apparent age (verified) was 22 years, he was 5 foot 6 inches tall, weighed 132lbs (59.87 kg), and his chest measurements were 30 inches (minimum) and 35 inches (maximum). By this time his teeth were described as “good.” All other physical aspects as recorded in August 1914 remained the same. He was declared physically “normal” and “fit” for active military service overseas. The explanations for the differences between the two medical checks are difficult to identify with any degree of accuracy, but could have been the effect of a military diet and life in Samoa and dental repair work conducted while he was enlisted.
His last known address in Wellington was c/- Styles, Johnsonville, Wellington. After training at Featherston and Tauherenikau military camps and having been initially inoculated against typhoid on November 7 1915 Frank embarked on 8 January 1916 as a member of the 1st Battalion, E Company New Zealand Rifle Brigade. His new regimental number was 23/1545. He left New Zealand again on 8 January 1916 on board either HMNZT 38 or HMNZT 39, being the “Tahiti” or the “Warrimoo”, sailing for Suez, Egypt, arriving there 8 Feb 1916. While in Egypt he was transferred from the NZ Rifle Brigade and attached to the Battalion. On 1 April 1916 he was promoted to Lance Corporal and 8 days later on 9 April he embarked at Alexandra on the “Llandovey Castle”, sailing to Marseilles and the battlefields of the Somme on the Western Front in France.
When posted to the Western Front Frank had less than 4 months to live. He was killed in action on 28 July 1916, aged 24. His military record gives no detail of how he was killed but he was most likely either a casualty of a heavy German bombardment in his sector or was killed in one of a number of raiding parties that took place during July 1916. His was buried at Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres, France and his grave reference is I.E.14.
His service was acknowledged by his employer, The Wellington Gas Company, at their annual meeting in February 1917, when he and two other employees were named as having “laid down their lives in support of the principles of justice and fair play for which the Empire is at war.” This was reported in the Evening Post, the local daily newspaper in Wellington. The company noted also forty-nine of their employees had volunteered for active service (either in New Zealand or abroad) and that of these men five had been killed and a further five had been wounded. The Gas Company had “subsidised the military pay of these men to the extent of £2341.”
Months later, on the first anniversary of his death, his friend Gwen Styles posted the following memorial notice in the same newspaper:
“IN MEMORIAM
BALLARD - In loving memory of Frank, second son of Mr and Mrs John Ballard, 340, Clapham-road, London, who was killed in action in France on the 28th July, 1916, aged 24 years.
Nameless his grave on a battlefield gory,
Marked by a cross o'er a mound of brown earth;
Died in the pride of his youth and his glory,
Far from his home and the land of his birth.
Inserted by his beloved friend, Gwen Styles.”
(Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 24, 28 July 1917, Page 1)
Franks attestation papers noted that his Will, in which he left his “whole of property and money due” was in favour of Miss Gwendoline Styles, Johnsonville. It is not known whether this person was his landlady prior to his enlistment, or perhaps his landlady’s daughter.
Frank’s war service entitled him to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal. His military personnel file records that these medals were to be sent to Mrs B J Brown (friend), Hunua, Papakura, c/- Robert Stonberg, High Street, Parkville, Eketahuna. However, the file also records that Frank’s Plaque and Scroll were sent to his father in Clapham on 19 July 1921.
Frank Ballard is not commemorated on the Newlands or other memorials included in this project, and his story is included in this website as a “stray”.
Friends and relatives or any others with further information are invited to comment further on this write-up in memory of this young soldier who paid the supreme sacrifice for King and country.
[i] His Majesty’s New Zealand Transport
Sometime during the next 2-3 years (1911-1914) Frank migrated to New Zealand where he found work with the Wellington Gas Company. His military personnel file records his occupation with the Gas Company as variously clerk, gas filler, and gas fitter. When he enlisted he was living at the residence of Mrs Styles, Woodlands Road, Johnsonville, and his next of kin was noted to be his mother, Mrs J.W. Ballard, 340A Clapham Road, London, England.
On his attestation papers filled out when he joined the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on 10 August 1914, Frank said he had served with the 1st Surrey Rifles, London. His physical description recorded on 10 August 1914 states that his ‘apparent age’ was 22 years 7 months old, he was 5 foot 5 inches tall, weighed 9 stone 5lbs (60.33 kg) and his chest measurements were 33 inches (minimum) and 35 inches (maximum). His complexion was described as ‘medium’, and he had brown eyes and dark brown hair. While he had no deformities and agreed to be vaccinated he did have “several bad teeth”. Not surprisingly his declared religious profession was Presbyterian.
Frank was sent as part of the Samoan Advance Party, 5th Regiment, A Company, to Apia on 15 August 1914 on the HMNZT “Monowai”. His regimental number was 1/151. Samoa had been a German Protectorate from 1900 but capitulated to the New Zealand forces on 29 August 1914 without incident.
Frank remained on active service in Samoa until he returned to New Zealand 3 April 1915 on board HMNZT[i] No 16 “Tulune” and was discharged by his request on 14 April 1915.
Six months later, on 19 October 1915, Frank joined up again with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He initially joined the 9th Wellington Regiment, E Company, and then on 10 March 1916 transferred to the 2nd Wellington Infantry Battalion. This time his physical description, carried out on 6 September 1915 by Dr W M Shand, was slightly different to that recorded in August 1914. His apparent age (verified) was 22 years, he was 5 foot 6 inches tall, weighed 132lbs (59.87 kg), and his chest measurements were 30 inches (minimum) and 35 inches (maximum). By this time his teeth were described as “good.” All other physical aspects as recorded in August 1914 remained the same. He was declared physically “normal” and “fit” for active military service overseas. The explanations for the differences between the two medical checks are difficult to identify with any degree of accuracy, but could have been the effect of a military diet and life in Samoa and dental repair work conducted while he was enlisted.
His last known address in Wellington was c/- Styles, Johnsonville, Wellington. After training at Featherston and Tauherenikau military camps and having been initially inoculated against typhoid on November 7 1915 Frank embarked on 8 January 1916 as a member of the 1st Battalion, E Company New Zealand Rifle Brigade. His new regimental number was 23/1545. He left New Zealand again on 8 January 1916 on board either HMNZT 38 or HMNZT 39, being the “Tahiti” or the “Warrimoo”, sailing for Suez, Egypt, arriving there 8 Feb 1916. While in Egypt he was transferred from the NZ Rifle Brigade and attached to the Battalion. On 1 April 1916 he was promoted to Lance Corporal and 8 days later on 9 April he embarked at Alexandra on the “Llandovey Castle”, sailing to Marseilles and the battlefields of the Somme on the Western Front in France.
When posted to the Western Front Frank had less than 4 months to live. He was killed in action on 28 July 1916, aged 24. His military record gives no detail of how he was killed but he was most likely either a casualty of a heavy German bombardment in his sector or was killed in one of a number of raiding parties that took place during July 1916. His was buried at Cite Bonjean Military Cemetery, Armentieres, France and his grave reference is I.E.14.
His service was acknowledged by his employer, The Wellington Gas Company, at their annual meeting in February 1917, when he and two other employees were named as having “laid down their lives in support of the principles of justice and fair play for which the Empire is at war.” This was reported in the Evening Post, the local daily newspaper in Wellington. The company noted also forty-nine of their employees had volunteered for active service (either in New Zealand or abroad) and that of these men five had been killed and a further five had been wounded. The Gas Company had “subsidised the military pay of these men to the extent of £2341.”
Months later, on the first anniversary of his death, his friend Gwen Styles posted the following memorial notice in the same newspaper:
“IN MEMORIAM
BALLARD - In loving memory of Frank, second son of Mr and Mrs John Ballard, 340, Clapham-road, London, who was killed in action in France on the 28th July, 1916, aged 24 years.
Nameless his grave on a battlefield gory,
Marked by a cross o'er a mound of brown earth;
Died in the pride of his youth and his glory,
Far from his home and the land of his birth.
Inserted by his beloved friend, Gwen Styles.”
(Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 24, 28 July 1917, Page 1)
Franks attestation papers noted that his Will, in which he left his “whole of property and money due” was in favour of Miss Gwendoline Styles, Johnsonville. It is not known whether this person was his landlady prior to his enlistment, or perhaps his landlady’s daughter.
Frank’s war service entitled him to the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, and the Victory Medal. His military personnel file records that these medals were to be sent to Mrs B J Brown (friend), Hunua, Papakura, c/- Robert Stonberg, High Street, Parkville, Eketahuna. However, the file also records that Frank’s Plaque and Scroll were sent to his father in Clapham on 19 July 1921.
Frank Ballard is not commemorated on the Newlands or other memorials included in this project, and his story is included in this website as a “stray”.
Friends and relatives or any others with further information are invited to comment further on this write-up in memory of this young soldier who paid the supreme sacrifice for King and country.
[i] His Majesty’s New Zealand Transport
Research conducted by Vivienne McIsaac, with supplementary input from Barbara Mulligan and Zane Kidd.
Main sources for information were:
Archives New Zealand: http://archway.archives.govt.nz
Auckland Museum Cenotaph Database: http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/locations
Commonwealth War Graves Commission: http://www.cwgc.org
"Pull-thro": with which is incorporated The Noumea nightmare, the Suva sendoff, and Samoa sun: the unofficial organ of the Advance Party of the N.Z. Expeditionary Force, Apia, Samoa
1911 Census of England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man was taken on the nights of 2nd and 3rd April. It collected detailed information on the people who spent the night in each household, including their names, marital statuses, ages, occupations and birthplaces. Data can be viewed on various websites such as http://search.ancestry.co.uk
Main sources for information were:
Archives New Zealand: http://archway.archives.govt.nz
Auckland Museum Cenotaph Database: http://muse.aucklandmuseum.com/databases/Cenotaph/locations
Commonwealth War Graves Commission: http://www.cwgc.org
"Pull-thro": with which is incorporated The Noumea nightmare, the Suva sendoff, and Samoa sun: the unofficial organ of the Advance Party of the N.Z. Expeditionary Force, Apia, Samoa
1911 Census of England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man was taken on the nights of 2nd and 3rd April. It collected detailed information on the people who spent the night in each household, including their names, marital statuses, ages, occupations and birthplaces. Data can be viewed on various websites such as http://search.ancestry.co.uk