Horace Ball

Horace was the son of John King Ball and Catherine Ball nee Oldbury. His father, John King Ball, was born in Leek, Staffordshire, (birth registered 1856 J/F/M), and his mother, Catherine, was born in Nottingham in March 1860. They were married in 1880 and according to the 1911 Census had 11 children of whom only nine survived infancy or childhood. Nine children were named on the census between 1891 and 1911: Florence b. 1881, John b. 1883 , Thomas b. 1884, Ernest probably b. 1885 and May b. 1887 who were born in Nottingham and Catherine b. 28 August 1889, Herbert b. 1891, Lily b. 1895 and Horace b. 1897 who were born in Leicester. In 1881 John (25), a paper box cutter, and Catherine (21) were living at 9 Neptune Place, Nottingham. Ten years later in 1891 they were living at 52 Metcalf Street, Leicester, with their six children, Florence, John, Thomas, Ernest, May and Catherine. By 1901 the family was back in Nottingham and living near Barker Gate in the ecclesiastical parish of St Mary. John was working as a cardboard box cutter. All nine of their surviving children were still living at home: Florence a cardboard box maker, John who was in work, Thomas an errand boy, Ernest a printer, May a yarn winder, and Kate [Catherine], Herbert, Lily and Horace . John and Catherine were living at 47 Blue Bell Hill, Nottingham, in 1911. Seven of their children were in the home on the night of the census: Florence who was still working as a cardboard box maker, John, a mixer for a chemical manufacturer, Catherine a pattern girl for a lace manufacturer, Herbert a lace machine builder, Lily a filling hand for a lace manufacturer, Horace an office boy and their married daughter May Parks. May had married Henry Parks in 1908; they had had one child who had died in infancy. John and Catherine's second son, Thomas, had married Edith Ellen Tomlinson in 1907. Horace's sister Catherine served with the VAD and died on 31 December 1917 when the transport HMT Osmanieh in which she was a passenger struck a mine at the entrance to Alexandria harbour. She was buried in Hadra War Cemetery, Alexandria, Egypt. (See record on this Roll of Honour) According to a report of Catherine's death in the local paper in January 1918, all five of her brothers had served in France 'of whom three are discharged, one without his right arm, another with a tubercular hip, and the third with chronic bronchitis. The eldest [John] and the youngest [Horace] are serving now.' By the time of Catherine's death the family home was at 25 Trent Bridge Footway, Nottingham. John King Ball died in February 1932 aged 76. In 1939 at the time of the England & Wales Register, his widow Catherine, described as an 'invalid', was still living at 25 Trent Bridge Footway. Also in the household were two unmarried daughters; Florence, an unemployed box maker, and Lily a 'finished lace curtain measurer'. Catherine Ball died in 1950. Of Horace's brothers, Thomas died in 1922, Ernest in 1935 and Herbert in 1945. John has not yet been traced after the record of January 1918. Of his sisters, May (Parks) died in 1956 and Lily in 1980. Florence has not yet been traced after 1939.