Ballard Papers at the National Maritime Museum
A list of the papers of Admiral George A. Ballard in the possession of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich.
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Log book kept by George Alexander Ballard while serving as a Lieutenant. The volume covers his service in HMS WOODLARK May 1886 to February 1887; HMS TEMERAIRE November 1887 to May 1891; HMS LINNET February 1892 to January 1895 and HMS GIBRALTAR April 1895 to May 1895.
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Report of committee on armaments of home ports, of which Ballard was a member. His personal copy. 1905.
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Proof copy of a Report of committee on the armaments of defended ports abroad, of which Ballard was a member. Includes appendices tables showing committee's recommendations as to guns and electric lights. 1906.
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Book of standing orders issued by George Alexander Ballard for officers under his command in HMS HAMPSHIRE and HMS COMMONWEALTH as part of the Home Fleet. Orders are followed by the initials of each of the officers to indicate they had been read.
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Folder containing proof copies of patrol flotillas operations orders issued by Ballard while Admiral of Patrols during the first year of the First World War. Heavily annotated in pencil.
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Typewritten report stamped 'Copy' by Admiral George Alexander Ballard submitting names of officers who he felt merited recognition for their war service under his command as Admiral of Patrols during the First World War. While specifically praising several officers the report also details the challenges faced by his command and the many changes it underwent during the first two years of the War.
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Copies of letters sent between the War Office and Admiralty in response to a request from the Committee of Aldershot Military Society for a naval officer to give a lecture on Imperial Defence which Ballard was subsequently selected to deliver.
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Typed report 'A short account of the work carried out by Malta Dockyard during the war 1914-1918' compiled by W.A. Griffiths, deputy cashier and copies of correspondence between Admiral Laurence Eliot Power and Admiral Brian Barttelot requesting it be written. Includes lists of ships repaired at the dockyard during the First World War.
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Letters sent by George Alexander Ballard to his parents and uncle. These include childhood letters written while living in India, Australia and school holidays in Scotland. There are also letters written while attending Dr Burney's academy at Gosport, the cadet training ship BRITANNIA, and his first ship HMS RESISTANCE.
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Letters sent by George Alexander Ballard to his parents and siblings during his early naval career. These include his account written while in HMS ACHILLES of the British fleet forcing a passage of the Dardanelles under Admiral Hornby in 1878. His letters from HMS TOURMALINE cover his time as part of the Flying Squadron on its nearly two-year voyage around the world including visits to Australia, China, Fiji, Japan and South Africa. In 1884 while serving in HMS HECLA, Ballard was sent to the Red Sea and his letters from this period cover his participation in the Suakin Expedition during the Mahdist War in Sudan. Ballard was landed as part of a naval brigade and the letters include his account of the Battle of Tamai in which he fought. These are followed by five letters from his brief period in HMS TEMERAIRE, spent mainly in Malta. He then joined HMS WOODLARK with his letters recording his participation in the Third Anglo-Burmese War fought in November 1885. These include his accounts of the British campaign along the Irrawaddy River culminating in the capture of Mandalay. His final letters from WOODLARK in 1886 cover anti-slavery cruises off Arabia and East Africa.
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Letters from George Alexander Ballard to his mother and sisters sent while serving in HMS LINNET and HMS TEMERAIRE in the Mediterranean and on the China Station and one letter from HMS RENARD sent from Holyhead. The letters contain descriptions of cities in China including Shanghai and Canton [Guangzhou] with a description of a water clock he saw there. He also described his experience of the 1894 Tokyo earthquake as LINNET was in Yokohama at the time, recorded his meeting Kaiser Wilhelm II, a visit to his father's grave in Athens, a tour of Jerusalem and a visit to Pompeii.
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Letters from George Alexander Ballard to his mother sent while serving in HMS ISIS, HMS HAMPSHIRE and HMS BRITANNIA. Most of the letters are sent from the ISIS while in the Mediterranean or on the China Station during the Boxer Rebellion. As the crew of the ISIS were not involved in the fighting, the letters provide Ballard's view of events in China as a frustrated close observer mainly from Amoy [Xiamen], Hong Kong, and Wei-Hai-Wei where ISIS was employed in protecting European civilians and shipping. His letters also cover the difficulty of being away while his wife was expecting their first child and the progress of the Second Boer War [South African War] in which his brother Colin was fighting.
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Letters sent by George Alexander Ballard during the First World War to his mother, sisters, and children. Letters dated August 1914 to April 1916 cover his time as Admiral of Patrols responsible for defending the Eastern Coast of Great Britain. These record the many challenges faced by his command, including mines, submarines, zeppelin raids and false alarms. They also touch on the raids by the German High Seas Fleet on Scarborough, Hartlepool and Whitby. Letters from August 1916 to November 1918 were sent while he was Admiral Superintendent of Malta Dockyard and cover efforts to protect allied shipping in the Mediterranean from attack by submarines and wartime life in Malta. Ballard also commented on the general course of the war and on the challenges of cooperation between the Royal Navy, French and Italian forces in the Mediterranean. The final letters are from time spent on half-pay as he moved towards retirement.
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Volume containing summary records of private business letters sent and received by George Alexander Ballard. These mainly relate to family, financial, and living arrangements but also include entries recording his naval appointments and promotions during this period. The volume also contains entries relating to his later career as a published historian and important events in his children's lives and careers.
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Letters from Mary Frances Hayes Ballard (née Paterson) to her husband George Alexander Ballard. The letters, some of which are incomplete, cover their engagement and early married life, including dealing with the difficulty of long separations and the birth of their first child while he was serving on the China Station. Her letters also provide an insight into her social life as a naval officer's wife while in Malta and her hopes for his career and their future. Includes two letters from their children to their father, a copy of an invitation to their wedding and a list of wedding presents and their donors. Also contains extracts taken by Mary from letters written by her brother-in-law Colin Ballard to his mother while serving in South Africa.
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Letters written by John Archibald Ballard to his son George Alexander Ballard. The letters cover George's childhood and his father's attempts to help fulfil his son's wish of joining the Royal Navy. Later letters sent towards the end of his father's career and during his retirement provide his reaction to events of George's early naval career while in HMS ACHILLES. These include his reaction to the forcing a passage of the Dardanelles in 1878 and tensions between Britain, the Ottoman Empire, and Russia with some reflection on his time in Ottoman service in the region.
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Letters written by Joanna Ballard (née Scott Moncrieff) to her son George Alexander Ballard. The letters cover family news and her life in Bombay [Mumbai] where her husband was Mint Master and Chairman of the Port Trust while George was at school in Britain. Later letters cover her concern for his safety during his naval career, the death of his father in 1880, the beginnings of his brother Colin's army career and her happiness at George's marriage and the birth of her first grandchild. Also contains a family tree for her husband John Archibald Ballard.
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Letter from the Lieutenant Colonel Leetham, Secretary of the Royal United Service Institution to Ballard regarding his father's medals, and on whether any other Subaltern or Captain had been made a Companion of the Bath at that rank. Also a letter from Colonel Douglas Dawson, Registrar and Secretary of the Lord Chamberlain's Office in response to Ballard's enquiry about his father's honours and what precedence his mother may have had among the wives of other Companions of the Order of the Bath. Also contains a typed account of John Archibald Ballard's work as Mint Master at Bombay.
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Begun in 1919 these unfinished memoirs cover Ballard's naval career from his time as a cadet through to his participation in the Third Anglo-Burmese War 1885. Among the many personal anecdotes Ballard included various technical descriptions on the ships in which he served and life in the navy during a period of transition from sail to steam. The first chapter describes his preparation for his entrance exams at Dr Burney's academy at Gosport and gives a detailed account of life as a cadet in the training ship BRITANNIA at Dartmouth. Chapter two covers his first commissions in HMS RESISTANCE, and HMS ACHILLES spent mainly in the Dardanelles due to tensions over Russo-Turkish war. The third chapter covers his time in HMS TOURMALINE as part of the Flying Squadron on a voyage around the world. After visiting Uruguay and the Falklands the squadron was diverted to South Africa on account of First Boer War. They then visited Australia, Fiji, China, Japan and Singapore before returning to Britain. Chapter four begins with his time on the Sub-Lieutenants course at Greenwich Royal Naval College and on gunnery and torpedo courses at Portsmouth. It then moves on to his time in HMS HECLA and involvement in the Suakin Expedition of the Mahdist War. This chapter includes an extensive description of the campaign in Sudan and the Battle of Tamai in which he participated as part of a naval brigade. Chapter five covers his service in HMS TEMERAIRE in the Mediterranean and his sudden appointment to HMS WOODLARK in Burma. The memoirs conclude with chapters six and seven covering events of the Third Anglo-Burmese War in 1885 and describe the British campaign up the Irrawaddy River and capture of Mandalay.
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Photograph of Joanna Ballard with her children George, Susan, Jane and Joanna taken while they were living in New Zealand. Includes an account written later by George Alexander Ballard covering the family's time in New Zealand, their return to India and the death of his sister Jane during the journey.
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Photograph album covering Ballard's naval career including his service in Burma, China and Siam [Thailand]. Includes photographs of the HMS WOODLARK, HMS TEMERAIRE and HMS LINNET and photographs of their officers. Also includes 1886 photograph of Ballard and General Prendergast's staff in Mandalay, Burma, and photographs of enslaved people who had been rescued by the crew of HMS WOODLARK.
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Photograph album covering Ballard's later naval career. The album includes photographs from his time in command of HMS TERRIBLE, HMS HAMPSHIRE and HMS COMMONWEALTH and as Admiral of Patrols in the early years of the First World War. The majority of the album is dedicated to his time as Admiral Superintendant of Malta Dockyard 1916-1918. This section includes images of damage to several ships caused by enemy submarines, boy scout rallies, officers of foreign navies with whom Ballard worked, the launch of the first sea plane from Malta and images of the interior of Admiralty House, Valletta. The album ends with photographs from his son's army career.
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Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings and invitations covering George Alexander Ballard's naval career from his time in Burma in 1885 through to his retirement in 1921 with most of the volume focused on the First World War. The volume also includes cuttings of reviews of his books published during retirement and cuttings on family events including his daughter's wedding and his son's army career.
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Scrapbook of newspaper cuttings of reviews of Ballard's published works. Also contains clippings on the army career of his son Colonel James Archibald William Ballard, and obituaries for Admiral George Alexander Ballard and his brother, Brigadier General Colin Robert Ballard.
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Four watercolours by George Alexander Ballard's mother Joanna Ballard (née Scott Moncrieff). Subjects include Broadford Hills, The Tay near Dunkeld, a flower sketched from a veranda in Bombay, and a winter forest scene.
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Letter to Brigadier General Colin Ballard [brother of George Alexander Ballard] from General Alexandru Averescu thanking him for his kindness and service as military attaché in Romania during 1917-1918. The letter also covers Romania's post-war relations with the allied powers and attitudes to the Romanian monarchy within the country.
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Handwritten copy or translation of a review by Captain Mizuno of Ballard's book 'The influence of the sea on the political history of Japan' taken from The Magazine of The Society of Political Science, The Imperial University of Tokyo.
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Several documents relating to research into ancestry of the Ballard family. Includes handwritten copy of funerary inscription for Ballard's grandfather George Ballard (1779-1837) and other relations. A Ballard pedigree, a letter from Sidney P. Potter sending a pencil sketch of a possible Ballard crest and a printed clipping of a similar design. Also contains typed letter from Darrell Ballard, Texas, with questions on possible ancestral links.
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Copy of exam results for Ballard's son Captain James Archibald William Ballard of The Northamptonshire Regiment for admission to the Staff Colleges at Camberley and Quetta, signed by Major D.W. Gordon, Director of Military Training.
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Typed receipt for a double barrelled shotgun received from Admiral Ballard for use of the Local Volunteer Defence Corps. Signed by the officer in charge of the police station in Downton, Salisbury, Wiltshire.
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Part of a letter from Sir Geoffrey Callender (first Director of National Maritime Museum) to Ballard asking his opinion on Admiral Sir James Hope and discussing portraits of Hope and other naval officers held by the National Maritime Museum.
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Sketch in pencil of a River boat on the upper Irrawaddy River, possibly by George Alexander Ballard.
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