Charles Frederick Ball: from Dublin’s Botanic Gardens to the killing fields of Gallipoli
by Brian Willan
published in Dublin by The Liffey Press, 2022
paperback ISBN 978 1 7397892 0 6
161 pages plus 17 pages of endnotes plus list of sources and index. Illustrated.
Amongst the millions of men who served in the British Army of the Great War period, virtually every occupation, race, creed, colour, religion and any other human factor you can think of is represented. But it is certainly unusual to find as a lowly Private a man who was an accomplished and well-known botanist. 16445 Charles Frederick Ball of the 7th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers, known as Fred, lost his life on 13 September 1915 and lies in Lala Baba Cemetery at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli. This book presents his biography.
Fred was the first husband of the author Brian Willan’s grandmother, and we have her to thank for the collection of more than 100 letters written by Fred that formed such a useful basis for compiling his story. The biography has been expanded by good research that draws upon a wide range of sources: the military aspect of Fred’s life is relatively short, and much work has been done to trace his life and professional story. It makes for an interesting tale. The military story has also been helped by the existence of papers and work on a battalion compade, Frank Morrow Laird. This has been covered recently in “Frank Speaking: from Suvla to Schweidnitz”, by Carole Hope. There is also the book “Pals at Suvla Bay” which is a history of the battalion’s “D” Company, along with the war diaries and other records of the work at Suvla Bay.
With the title “From Dublin’s Botanic Gardens …” I was surprised to read that Fred actually came from a Loughborough family. He entered the occuaption of botany by working at Kew Gardens, before going to Ireland where he was employed at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Glasnevin. Fred had experience of overseas work and amongst other accomplishments became editor of “Irish Gardening” before he married Alice Lane. At that point (December 1914), the registration of his marriage locates him at Gough Barracks at The Curragh. He was in fact in training as an infantryman.
Fred had volunteered to join the regiment, and trained with the battalion in Ireland and England. He survived the awful initial experience of the landing at Suvla in August 1915 and the costly attempt to advance on Chocolate Hill. It was during a period at “rest camp” – like all locations at Gallipoli, one never out of range of enemy fire – that he was struck and died of wounds. The book records these events and his eventual commemoration well, and makes for a good read.
Links
Review of “Frank Speaking” (biograpphy of Frank Laird)