Private 8656 Samuel Ballard


Killed in Action on Saturday, 7th November 1914, age 22.
Commemorated on Panel 35 and 37 of Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Ieper, West-Vlaanderen, Belgium.

1st Bn., South Staffordshire Regiment. 22nd Brigade of 7th Division.

Son of the late Isaiah and the late Elizabeth Ballard.
Born: Tipton, Enlisted: Lichfield, Resident: Tipton.

First landed France & Flanders, 4th October 1914.
Medal entitlement: 1914 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal.
Soldier's Papers at National Archives did not survive.

Not commemorated on any Tipton memorial.
Commemorated here because identified as Tipton on 'Soldiers Died in the Great War'.

Link to Commonwealth War Graves Site: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/926332/


Genealogical Data

Birth of Samuel Ballard registered December quarter 1891 in Dudley.

1901 Census
78 Albert Street, Coseley, Staffs. (This is just off High Street, Princes End)
Isaiah Ballard (37, Colliery Boat Loader, Widower, born Tipton), and his 5 children: James (13, born Gospel Oak), Samuel (11, born Gospel Oak), Elizabeth (10, born Gospel Oak), Mary A. (8, born Gospel Oak) & Isaiah (2, born Gospel Oak).

1911 Census
Whittington Barracks, Whittington, Lichfield.
Samuel Ballard, 19, Single, Private in 2nd South Staffs, born Princes End, Staffs.


Personal Data

After Samuel's death, his outstanding army pay and allowances amounted to £12/12/1d (12 pounds, 12 shillings and 1 penny); this included his War Gratuity of £5/0/0d (5 pounds precisely). This was not distributed until February 1920 and was divided between one brother and 3 sisters: Isaac Ballard £3/3/1d, and his married sisters: Mrs Mary A. Jones, Mrs Elizabeth Tibbets and Mrs Louisa Hughes each receiving £3/3/0d. The War Gratuity confirms that Samuel was a serving soldier in August 1914.

A Dependant's Pension Card exists which shows that Mrs Hughes of 20 Brown Lion Street, Tipton, wrote applying for a Dependant's Pension in respect of Samuel Ballard in October 1919. This would seem to be Samuel's sister Louisa who was one of the recipients of his outstanding Army pay in 1920. There is no record of a pension being paid, and as a married woman it is unlikley to have been successful.


Action resulting in his death

The 1st Bn. South Staffs returned to England from South Africa on 19th September 1914, and were attached to the 22nd Brigade of 7th Division. In early October 1914 they landed at Zeebrugge, Belgium and were almost immediately in the thick of the 1st Battle of Ypres.

The 1st South Staffords War Diary stops on 26th October 1914 as officer casualties had been so heavy. The remnants of the 1st South Staffords and 2nd Royal Welsh were temporarily merged on 31 October to create a composite battalion under Capt Vallentin.

Vicious fighting continued through the early days of November. Major-General T. Capper of the 7th Division, later wrote that "On November 7th, the 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment, although very weak after three weeks' fighting, made a gallant counter-attack in support of the First Corps, which was hard pressed, driving the enemy from his trenches and assisting in the capture of three machine guns. This effort at the end of three weeks' continual fighting - and with hardly any officers left, speaks eloquently for the bearing of this Battalion."

It was in this attack that Captain J. F. Vallentin was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross "for conspicuous bravery". Previously he had been wounded slightly and was in hospital at Ypres when on 6 November he heard that his Regiment was going into action that night. Determined to be with his comrades Captain Vallentin obtained permission to rejoin them. During the subsequent assault on the German trenches he was twice wounded, but pressed on until he was killed by five or six machine gun shots. The capture of the trenches owed much to the confidence held in his valiant leadership by his men. This was the first V.C. won by the South Staffordshire Regiment in the war, and the first one ever awarded to the 1st Battalion.

The diary of the 2nd Queen's, also of 22nd Brigade, gives some details of the action.
6th November 1914 Ypres
Brigade moved to Dickebusch, into Corps reserve. During the evening a message arrived from Lord Cavan, commanding 4th (Guards) Brigade, in need of assistance. The Brigade marched to Zillebeke, arriving at 2200, and lay in a field around Cavan's HQ.

7th November 1914
About 0500, the Brigade left the field, and went down the path through the woods. Overnight, a gun had been positioned to enfilade the German trench. However, the assistance it gave was slight. The Brigade was deployed, screened from the Germans by a slight rise in the ground. The attack was timed for 0615. There was a heavy mist, and it was only just becoming daylight. The Brigade advanced over the rise. German machine guns opened. The second wave came up, and advanced with the first. It was completely successful, and the enemy ran away. There was much shelling, but the Brigade line held on. The Brigade withdrew that night to the level crossing, where it bivouaced.

The 1st South Staffords were withdrawn just days before the end of the 1st Battle of Ypres. When it had landed in Belgium just a few weeks before it had been a force of 1,100 officers and men, now only 78 remained. Almost every officer had either been killed or wounded, and only one N.C.O., Company Sergeant Major F. Bytheway, was left to bring the men out of action.


Newspaper Cuttings

None.