Death of Henry Ball (1863-1931)

Sadly, Henry Ball passed away, at age 68. He died at his residence, 96 Plassey Street, Penarth, on 8 December 1931. His occupation was given as “Dairyman”. The cause of death was given as “Bronchial asthma” and “Exhaustion”. The notation “No Pm” indicated that no post mortem was conducted. His son, William Henry Ball, who resided at 18 Cumberland Street, Cardiff, attended the death and also was the informant. The death was registered on 8 December 1931 and H.G. Belton is noted as the Registrar.

Henry’s address may ring a bell as it was the same house where the family was living at the time of the 1891 census:


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As you may recall, Plassey Street played a large role in the lives of Henry and his father, William Huxtable Ball, while they lived in Penarth. I found this image of a sunset on Plassey Street on Paul Dyer's Flickr site and thought that it seemed to say it all…:

Cheers, K.

Finding Henry Ball (1863-1931) in 1914

Henry and Anne must have moved by 1914. I was able to find them in the 1914 "Cardiff Directory" in the Cardiff and Suburban Names section. The 1914 Cardiff (Western Mail) directory was found on the Historical Directories website. The entry reads "Ball, Henry, dairyman, Llandough". Llandough, according to Wikipedia, is a village and southern suburb of Cardiff, in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. This is a map of of Llandough:


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The marker shows the location of their home in Llandough on Penlan Road.

I suspect that Henry and Anne moved back to the Penarth area, where they continued with the dairy business. Their home is the one with grey stone and white wood in the Google StreetView below:


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Cheers, K.

Henry Ball (1863-1931) ten years on...

The 1911 census of Wales (and England) was taken on Sunday April 2nd. By the time the census was taken, Henry and Anne had moved to 5 Railway Terrace, Dinas Powys, Glamorgan, a short distance west of Penarth (2.6 kms actually):


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This is an aerial view of the street where they lived:


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Perhaps they had moved to be closer to John's farm in St. Andrews or found that Henry's business interests had drawn them away from Penarth, I am not sure.

The census shows Henry to be a dairyman, age 47, Ann, housekeeper, age 43, Lily May, daughter, age 16, assistant in dairy, Lettice Charlotte, daughter, age 14, student, Doris Charlotte, age 13, student, Gladys Margaret, age 10, student, and a new addition to the family, Irene Winnie, daughter, also a student.

Ann's father, Henry Evans, a widower, retired, age 74, was also living with the family. William Henry, the eldest child, had moved out by this time - more on him later.

Cheers, K.

Henry Ball (1863-1931), marriage and a growing family

The year 1891 was a watershed in the life of Henry Ball. While recorded as living with his parents in April 1891, Henry seemed to embark on some big life changes - namely marrying Annie Evans in late 1891. Annie was born about 1868 and was from Cwmavon, Glamorgan, a small hamlet east of Swansea, close to Port Talbot. Their marriage was registered in the 4th quarter (Oct-Dec).

By the time of the 1901 census, Henry and Annie had a family of 5 children: William Henry, born in 1893, Lily Mae, born in 1895, Lettice Charlotte, born in 1897, Doris Charlotte, born in 1898, and Gladys Margaret, born in early 1901. They lived at 96 Plassey Street, Penarth. This is a Google map of their address:


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And this is a street view of the house:


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If you look across the street and down a little bit, you can see the Plassey Street Baptist Church, which played a big part in the life of Henry's father, William Huxtable Ball.


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I suspect that Henry and Annie were married at this church, but will need to do some more digging to confirm it.

Cheers, K.

Henry Ball and the 1891 Wales Census

In 1891, on the 5th of April, when the census was taken in Wales, Henry Ball, age 27, was found to be living with his parents, William and Charlotte, in Penarth. They resided at 54 Windsor Road as shown on this Google map:


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Both father and son are listed as "dairyman". A dairyman could be a worker or owner of a dairy farm or a seller of dairy products. Given that Henry was living with his father in town, I suspect their dairy business was the latter - seller of dairy products. Knowing that older brother John was farming in St. Andrews Major, I suspect that Henry and William may have sold milk and other products from John's farm and perhaps others. Did they have a formal business? How successful were they? Alas, more clues to discover..

Cheers, K.

Henry Ball (1863-1931)

Henry was the third eldest son of William and Charlotte Ball. His birth was registered in Gower, Glamorgan in the last quarter of 1863. The family was likely still living in Scurlage Castle, Llanddewi, which is shown on the map below:


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This is a street view of the village:


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The first time Henry shows up in the census is 1881. (Parts of the Glamorgan census for 1871 are missing - along with the Ball family). He is shown as "Henery", age 17, and is listed as a rural messenger. Henry is living with his parents, sister Charlotte and youngest brother, Thomas in Scurlage Castle, Llanddewi.

More to follow.
Cheers, K.

Charlotte Balment - Life in Wales with a growing family

Sometime between after March 1858 and early 1861, Charlotte and William moved from Bray Town, Devon to Scurlage, Llanddewi, Wales. It must have been a big change to moved household across the Bristol Channel and to settle in a new place. What pushed or pulled them? The lure of a job, better home, family, friends or a tradegy? If I ever come across the answers, I will be sure to post.

Following their move to Gower, Charlotte gave birth to John (1861), Henry (1863), Elizabeth (1865), Charlotte (1868) and Thomas (1875). The family lived in Scurlage Castle as late as the 1881 census, before moving on to Penarth.

What was life like for Charlotte with 6 children with 17 years between the youngest and eldest? Very busy, I would suspect.

Cheers, K.

William Huxtable Ball's Will 1927

In my research, I was delighted to come across the will and last testament of William Huxtable Ball as it opened up several venues of research for me and let me know that my great-grandfather, Thomas, had not been forgotten after leaving for Canada over 21 years prior to his father's death.

The will was probated in the District Probate Registry of His Majesty's High Court of Justice at Llandaff on 21 December 1927. John Ball of Tygwyn Farm, Saint Andrews, farmer, and Henry Ball, of 96 Plassey Street, Penarth, grocer's vanman, sons of William, were named as executors. The net value of William's estate was given as 532 GBP. Witnesses to the will were David Davies, 4 Victoria Avenue and Isaac Thomas, 138 Plassey Street, both of Penarth.

William owned the homes at 140 and 141 Plassey Street. His daughter, Charlotte Down, was bequeathed the house and contents at 140 Plassey Street. Upon her death or that of her husband (as long as he didn't remarry), the house was to be sold and the net proceeds equally divided between William's grandchildren, William Spickett Ball and Charlotte Agnes Down. Charlotte Agnes was to also receive the furniture in the house. The grandchildren were bequeathed 10 GBP each upon William's death.

The house and contents of 141 Plassey Street were to be sold at William's death, and along with his savings at the Post Office, were to be equally divided, after payment of all outstanding debts, between his other 4 children: John Ball, Henry Ball, Thomas Huxtable Ball and Elizabeth Ann Edwards, and granddaughter, Mabel Charlotte Ball. The will also specified that if Elizabeth died before before her father, her share was to be equally divided among her siblings, John, Henry and Thomas. Interestingly, if Thomas died before William, his share was to go to his wife.

The will proved to be a gold mine of information. For the first time, I learned of the identity of Charlotte's first (and illegitimate) child, William Spickett Ball. There had been many family stories that she had a child out of wedlock (also mentioned in my great-aunt Gwen's note), but there had been many William Balls listed in the UK birth indexes, it was difficult to pin him down (and after having ordered a couple of wrong birth certificates, I had put aside that search). I also discovered a daughter of William and Charlotte, Elizabeth Ann Edwards, of whom I had no knowledge as she did not appear on any of the censuses with family members. This discovery opened up a new branch of the family to explore.

It was reassuring to see that Thomas was mentioned in the will - not for monetary gain, but for the fact that he had not been forgotten. Living so far away from the family in Penarth, Thomas was a world away with a new life, community and family who had never met their Welsh relations.

May peace, health and happiness be yours during this holiday season. Cheers, K.

William in the 1891 Wales Census

By the time of the 1891 Wales Census was taken on the night of 5 April 1891, there had been many changes in the Ball household. William, now shown as age 51, was working as a dairyman (oddly, he only aged 7 years between the 10 year census dates! Census can be great tools for finding people, but the data in them can be faulty. Back in the 19th century, many people did not know the year that they were born, especially in the days prior to civil registration when the government started recording births, marriages and deaths). Living in the household are his wife, Charlotte, shown as age 59 and son, Henry, age 27. Henry's occupation is shown as dairyman too. Presumably, Henry and his father were in business together.

The address of the Ball household is listed as 54 Windsor Road, Penarth. Scurlage is approximately 100km from Penarth. To give you some idea of the distance between the villages, please see the map below:


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This is a map of the 54 Windsor Road, Penarth:


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And a street view of the address. The view is down Windsor Road. Railway Terrace intersects Windsor Road on the right:


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What prompted them to move east towards Cardiff? The trade of blacksmithing had gone into decline with the Industrial Revolution, as machines and factories replaced men and tools. Why the move into milk? What would have drawn William and Henry into the milk trade? Older brother, John Ball, with whom Thomas Huxtable Ball was living in 1891, operated a farm. Was there a family connection to the milk trade?

Many more mysteries solve! Answers will be posted when found....

Cheers, K.

William Huxtable Ball in the 1881 Wales Census

According to the 1881 Wales Census, William H. Ball is 44 years of age, earning a living as a blacksmith. His birth year is 1837. Charlotte, his spouse, is listed as age 49, whose occupation is shown as "Blacksmiths wife". The following individuals are listed as living in the home: Charlotte, daughter, age 12, Henery (misspelling of Henry), age 17, rural messenger, and Thomas, age 6, scholar, which meant that he was attending regular (but not necessarily full-time) school or being home schooled (although it is doubtful that he was being taught by his mother Charlotte as she continued to sign documents with an 'X'). The family is living in Scurlage Castle, Llanndewi, Glamorgan, Wales.

This was the first census in which my great-grandfather appeared and was the first real indication in my research that the family had been in Wales. One of the first websites that I found was the Welsh Family Archive run by John Ball (no relation). John's kind words and encouragement when we connected through his website furthered my interest in discovering my Welsh heritage - which continues today.

Cheers, K.

Birth of son, Henry Ball, and daughter, Elizabeth Ann Ball 1863-1865

William Huxtable Ball and wife, Charlotte, saw the birth of a son and daughter between the years of 1863 and 1865. Henry's birth was registered in the last quarter of 1863 in the Gower Disrict of Wales. Elizabeth Ann's birth certificate states that she was born in Scurlage Castle, Llanddewi on 28 October 1865. Her father's occupation is listed as "Blacksmith".

You may be wondering, as I did, about the place name 'Scurlage Castle'. While very romantic sounding, there is no actual castle at modern day Scurlage, only a Tudor farm reputed to be on the site of a castle dating from the late medieval period. This is a link to information from the Gower Magazine site regarding the Scurlage Castle site and village. This is a link to information from the Gatehouse website, a comprehensive gazeteer and bibliography of the medieval castles, fortifications, and palaces of England, Wales and the Islands on Scurlage Castle..

Cheers, K.