Please help : desperately searching for information on Corporal Walter

[Guest spiceyball]

Hello, I wonder if any can help me. I have recently started researching my family tree and have found lots of information through censuses and such like but havent found much information about certain members of the family. One of these is Corporal Walter John Ball, born in Newton Le Willows, Lancashire. I have checked the War Graves Comission and there is basic information there. He joined up on the 31st August 1914 and was killed on 1st April 1915, only 18 years of age. He was Lance Corporal in the South Lancashire Regiment and is now buried in Dickebusch New Military Cemetery. I just want to find out as much as I can about him and his family which is hard as my family relocated to Essex after the war and my ancestors lived in the Midlands.

If anyone could give me any help or point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

[shaymen]

For starters here are his deatails from SDGW.

Glyn

[Stebie9173]

For everyone's reference:

Name: BALL, WALTER JOHN

Initials: W J

Nationality: United Kingdom

Rank: Lance Corporal

Regiment: South Lancashire Regiment

Unit Text: 4th Bn.

Age: 18

Date of Death: 01/04/1915

Service No: 2499

Additional information: Son of Walter and Martha Ball, of 14, Alfred St., Mill Lane, Newton-le-Willows, Lancs.

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: B. 44.

Cemetery: DICKEBUSCH NEW MILITARY CEMETERY

His Medal Card:

Medal card of Ball, Walter

Corps Regiment No Rank

1/4th South Lancashire Regiment 2499 Lance Corporal

1/4th South Lancashire Regiment 2499 Private

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documen...1&resultcount=1

This will show his medal entitlement and when he went overseas (probably 13th February 1915)

Short summary of the battalion:

The Prince of Wales's Volunteers (South Lancashire Regiment)

Territorial Force

1/4th Battalion

August 1914 : in Warrington. Part of South Lancashire Brigade, West Lancs Division. 13 February 1915 : left the Brigade and landed at (Le) Havre. 13 February 1915 : attached to 7th Brigade,3rd Division. 12 October 1915 : became Pioneers to 3rd Division. 9 January 1916 : transferred to 55th Division.

The 1/4th South Lancashire Regiment were in 7th Brigade, 3rd division:

http://www.1914-1918.net/3div.htm

Steve.

[Ste]

Hi Spicey,

I spot from CWGC that Cpl Ball lived in Alfred St - I know it, it's just by Newton's railway station, with a pub called the Millstone at the end of the street:

...and another called The Legh Arms just around the corner.

Newton-le-Willows is close to Warrington, the South Lancashire Regiment's depot town; the 4th Battalion were the Warrington Territorials, based at the Orford Barracks. These are still in use (now known as Peninsula Barracks) as a TA centre.

The 4th Btn were relieved from trenches opposite St Eloi on the very day he was killed, being replaced by the 2nd Btn of the same regiment. This was their first independent duty in the trenches.

Cheers,

Ste

[liverpool annie]

Hi Spicey!

I discovered that the Warrington Family History group have published pamphlets that index all the soldiers to page references in the Warrington Guardian. They are in the series "Warrington's Great War Heroes"

these can be ordered online at www.liverpool-genealogy.org.uk I looked up your Walter John Ball in my copy and he's there .....

Ball 2499 L/Cprp W 10 (twice) & 14/4/15 ; 11/12/15

Page 4 Warrington's Great Heroes The Fatalities of the South Lancs Regiment

if you send the page references to the British Newspaper Library,Collindale Ave,London

e- mail newspapers@bl.uk with a request - they will get back to you.

They hold copies of all UK newspapers- if you are lucky there might be a photo also.

I found this from the Regimental History - Ich Dien

On 25th of March the unit moved from Westoutre to Dickebusch and on the following day to the trenches opposite the village of St Eloi where the field drains were so near the surface it was impossible to dig deeply and breastworks were necessary as a protection against the enemy's fire

This was an area where severe fighting had taken place in 1914 and dead soldiers of both sides - half exposed - lay where they had fallen several months before - while in the ruined farms - the bodies of civilians of both sexes and all ages - unshriven and unburied - served as a reminder of the ruthlessness of modern war

This tour in the front line lasted until 1st April - when the 1st/4th were relieved by the 2nd battalion and returned to billets on the Dickebusch - La Clytte Road having acquitted itself well in this it's first independent spell of duty as the garrison of an important sector of the Briitsh front

Annie

[Guest spiceyball]

I just wanted to thank everybody who gave me some help yesterday and to say that all the information was useful and helpful so thanks again.

Just to keep you busy! I wondered if you could help with the next one. Walter's brother also joined the army and I am trying to trace his records etc and info would be great. I have some basic information: his name was Douglas Harry Ball and he was born in Kidderminster, Worcs on 22nd October 1889 and then moved to 14 Alfred Street, Newton Le Willows. He emigrated to Canada and joined up with the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force and took the oath and signed the attestation paper on 9th March 1916 (found on the Canadian Immigration Website) From there I have no information except that he survived the war and returned to England after the War.

Any help you could give would be gratefully received