Henry Lidgbird Ball (bef. 1756 - 1818)

Born before 7 Dec 1756 in Woodchurch, Birkenhead, Cheshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Charlotte (Foster) Ball — married 17 Jun 1802 in London, England

Husband of Anne Georgianna Henrietta (Johnston) Ball — married 19 Jul 1810 in Kingston upon Thames, London, England

Died 22 Oct 1818 after age 61 in Mitcham, Surrey, England, United Kingdom

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Kenneth Evans [send private message]

Biography

Henry Ball was born in Cheshire, England.

Henry Ball was an Australian explorer.

Henry Ball is Notable.

Rear Admiral Henry Ball was a Royal Navy officer, best known as the commander of the First Fleet's HMS Supply, exploration of Sydney Harbour and Broken Bay as well as other areas of Australia's eastern coastline, for establishing the Norfolk Island penal settlement, and for discovering and exploring Lord Howe Island.

Formative years

Henry Lidgbird Ball was born in 1756 in Birkenhead, Cheshire, England. He was the son of George Ball and his wife, Lucy Stringer. He was christened on 7th December 1756 in the 12th century Holy Cross Church, Woodchurch, Cheshire. ^[1][2][3]

Ball entered the Royal Navy as a Midshipman, probably about 1770 ^[4] and was commissioned as a Lieutenant on 23rd April 1778. From March 1783 until April 1786 he commanded the cutter Seaflower 16 on the northern coast of Ireland. ^[1]

First Fleet

HMS Supply

In 1786, the 30 year-old Ball was given command of the 28 year-old two-mast armed tender, HMS Supply, one of the ships forming the First Fleet on its voyage to New South Wales. ^[1] Normally fitted with four small three-pounder cannons and six ​half-pounder swivel guns, Supply's armament was substantially increased in 1786 with the addition of four twelve-pounder carronades and crew increased from fourteen to 45. Ball also carried a detachment of sixteen Royal Marines under the command of Lieutenant William Dawes and two convicts; one an artificer and one a gardener. Ball sailed from Spithead on 13th May 1787, arriving at Botany Bay on 18th January 1788. Commandant of the fleet, Captain Arthur Phillip RN, and his adjutant, Lieutenant Philip Gidley King RN, transferred from HMS Sirius at Cape Town. Under Ball, Supply was the first ship to sail into Botany Bay and to Port Jackson after the initial Botany Bay landing was found unsuitable for settlement. ^[5]

New South Wales

In March 1788, Ball commanded his vessel, entrusted with shipping the first group of convicts from Sydney to Norfolk Island. On his return voyage he explored a small island sighted on the outward voyage, 900 kilometres to the south east, which he named Lord Howe's Island. ^[1]

Between 1788 and 1790, Ball explored the area around Port Jackson and Broken Bay, was an early explorer of the eastern coastline of Terra Australis, known then in its entirety as New South Wales, and made a further nine voyages to Norfolk Island (and three to Lord Howe Island) in Supply. ^[1]

During his time in New South Wales, Ball had a relationship with Sarah Partridge, a convict who had been transported on the First Fleet in the Lady Penrhyn. They had a daughter, Anne Maria, born in 1789. ^[1]

On 17th April 1790, Ball was sent to Batavia, Dutch East Indies (Jakarta, Indonesia) for supplies, returning on 19th September having, according to American War of Independence veteran, Watkin Tench, 'well stored his little bark with every necessary and conveniency', and having chartered the Waaksamheyd, which arrived two months later with more provisions. He was at Batavia, purchasing the desperately-needed supplies, when the Second Fleet arrived in Port Jackson in June with an additional 1,000+ mouths to be fed!

In January 1791 Ball was ordered to bring back John Hunter and the crew of the destroyed Sirius from Norfolk Island. About this time he became gravely ill 'resulting from a fever' he had caught at Batavia. ^[1]

Return to England

Showing no signs of his health improving, Ball returned to England to convalesce, departing in November 1791 aboard HMS Supply and sailing via Cape Horn so that he circumnavigated the globe. He landed at Plymouth in April 1792 with the first kangaroo to be shipped to England. The Supply was then sold by the Royal Navy, becoming a coal tender on the River Thames. It is possible that Ball brought his daughter 'home' on the voyage. ^[6]

Ball returned to duty in December 1792 and was promoted to Captain in 1795, in which position he served with distinction until 1812, commanding the Ariadne 1795-97, Daedalus 1797-1801, Trident 1801, Zealand 1806-07, Gibraltar 1808-10, and Christian VII 1812-13. Whilst on the Daedalus on 9th February 1799 he captured the French frigate Prudente.

On 17th June 1802 Ball married Charlotte Foster in London. Sadly, Charlotte died a year later. On 19th July 1810, at Kingston upon Thames, he married Anne Johnston, who was 31 years his junior. ^[1]

In 1812 Ball went onto half pay in semi-retirement. On 4th June 1814 he was promoted to flag rank as Rear Admiral of the Blue. ^[1]

Henry Ball passed away, aged 62 years, on 22nd October 1818 in Mitcham, Surrey, and is buried in the churchyard at St Peter's Church, Petersham, Surrey, in the family vault of his widow, Anne, who passed away in 1864. Ball was also survived by his daughter, Anne Maria. ^[1]

Legacy

Henry Ball's contribution to the southern Pacific is commemorated by the naming of Ball's Pyramid on Lord Howe Island, Ball's Bay on Norfolk Island and Ball's Point in Sydney Harbour. ^[1] Birkenhead Point, Drummoyne, on Sydney Harbour is named after Ball's birthplace in Cheshire. ^[7]

A commemorative plaque acknowledging Ball was added to the Johnston tomb on 20th October 2013 at a service attended by the Australian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. ^[8]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10} Parsons, Vivienne. Ball, Henry Lidgbird (1756–1818), Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1966; accessed online 15 Aug 2019
2. ↑ "England, Cheshire Parish Registers, 1538-2000," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F3TL-JRZ : accessed 18 January 2016), Henry Lidgbird Ball, 07 Dec 1756, Christening; citing item 3 p 46, , Woodchurch, Cheshire, England, Record Office, Chester; FHL microfilm 2,106,346.
3. ↑ Wikipedia: Woodchurch; accessed 15 Aug 2019
4. ↑ no record of appointment has yet been located
5. ↑ King, Jonathan. The First Fleet: the Convict Voyage that founded Australia 1787-88. MacMillan Company, Crows Nest NSW, 1982. ISBN 0 333 33855 3
6. ↑ Gillen, Mollie. The Founders of Australia: a Biographical Dictionary of the First Fleet. Library of Australian History, North Sydney, 1989
7. ↑ Birkenhead Point; accessed 15 Aug 2019
8. ↑ Wikipedia profile: Henry Lidgbird Ball

See also

• Henry Lidgbird Ball; accessed 15 Aug 2019.