Saturday 18 July 2015

Ball, Benjamin - Private (50225)

17th Battalion 
The King's (Liverpool Regiment),
Killed in Action 29th April 1918
Age 24,
Commemorated Tyne Cot Memorial

Newspaper Report:

TWO BROTHERS FALLEN, ONE MISSING.
PRIVATE B. BALL OF HASLINGDEN

Mrs. Black of 9 Smithies Street, Carrs, Haslingden, has received notification that her youngest brother, Private Benjamin Ball (24), of the King's Liverpool Rifles, is missing as from April 29th.  Private Ball is on the roll of honour of Haslingden Parish Church.  He was a scutcher at Lambert's Mill up to joining up in March of last year, and was a highly popular young man.  He was a Lewis gunner.  It appears probable that he has been taken prisoner.  Private. Ball's twin brother, Joseph, who was previously a stripper and grinder at Lambert's Mill, and was in the Manchester's, and Private William Ball, formerly motor driver for Messrs. Frank Haworth, have both given their lives in the war.  Mrs. Black's husband has been serving in France two years and seven months.  Apart from the brother now posted as missing Mr. Moses Ball, hay and straw dealer and Mrs. Black, are the only surviving members of the Ball family.

Newspaper Memorial:

In ever loving memory of our three brothers, Private Benjamin Ball, 17th King's Liverpool Regt., who was reported missing, April 29th, 1918, now reported killed on that date, at Voormezeels, France; Private Joseph Ball, 2-10th Manchester Regt., killed in action, France, October 9th, 1917; Private William Ball, died, Mesopotamia, December 25th 1916.

"Oft we think of you, dear brothers,
Our hearts are filled with pain;
O, this world would be a Heaven
Could we hear your voice again.

When in our sorrow, all alone,
Your names we oft recall,
There is nothing left to answer,
But your photos on the wall.

It is not the tears at the moment shed,
That tell how dear are the souls that are fled,
It's the silent tear, through the long years wept,
Because hearts that have loved never forget.

There is a link death cannot sever,
Love and remembrance live for ever."

From their sorrowing sister and brothers, 9 Smithies Street Carrs.


Private Benjamin Ball Census Certificate - Click over Census to enlarge