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Waters Upton memorial inscriptions: BALL

IN LOVING MEMORY OF
EMMA,
THE BELOVED WIFE OF
JOHN BALL, OF COLD HATTON,
WHO DIED JUNE 5TH 1892,
AGED 65 YEARS.

ALSO OF THE ABOVE
JOHN BALL,
OF WATERS UPTON (LATE OF COLD HATTON),
WHO DIED JANUARY 9TH 1900,
AGED 72 YEARS.

John Ball (baptised 1 Apr 1827 in Prees, son of John, a labourer, and Ann) and his wife Emma Grocott or Growcot (born about 1827 in Matlock, Derbyshire, daughter of Thomas, a tailor) were married at Tunstall, Staffordshire on 3 August 1847. They appear on the 1861 census at Cold Hatton in the parish of Ercall Magna, along with three children: William Abraham Richard Ball (born in the parish of Hodnet in 1848 and baptised there on 18 June), Mary Ann Ball (born 1851 in the parish of Ercall Magna and baptised there on 23 June) and Emily Ball (born 10 November 1853 in the same parish and baptised there on 21 November). Although John and Emma had married in an Anglican church, their children were baptised by Methodist ministers.

John was noted to be a tailor in the records of his marriage and his children’s baptisms, and on the 1861 census. Neither John nor Emma were ever enumerated on a census at Waters Upton, but I suspect that John relocated there from Cold Hatton, and moved in with his son William, after Emma’s death.

IN
LOVING MEMORY OF
SARAH
[THE] BELOVED WIFE OF
WILLIAM A. R. BALL
OF WATERS UPTON
BORN DEC. 4 1844 DIED FEB. 13 1908.
HER END WAS PEACE.

Sarah Cureton married “William Abram Richard Ball” on 23 August 1870 at Sheriff Hales (a parish lying in both Shropshire and Staffordshire). The 1871 census shows the couple living at Waters Upton with Sarah’s parents, Thomas Cureton (68, a gardener, born at Waters Upton) and Elizabeth (70, born at High Ercall). Ten years later William Ball (a tailor like his father, as he had been in 1871) and Sarah were living at Waters Upton with four children, all born in the parish: William J Ball (9), Elizabeth E Ball (7), Mary A Ball (4) and Thomas C Ball (1, full name Thomas Cureton Ball).

William was still working as a tailor in 1891, but by the time of the 1901 census William A R Ball, 52, was “Relieving officer and Registrar of Births and Death”, living at Waters Upton with Sarah (57, appearing on her last census) and sons Thomas C Ball (21) and Arthur Ball (18). He had in fact appeared in the 1895 Kelly’s Directory of Shropshire as “relieving & school attendance officer for Ercall Magna district of Wellington union”. The 1909 edition of the directory shows that he was then “relieving & school attendance officer for Ercall Magna district of Wellington union”.

In 1911 William Ball, a widower, was still living at Waters Upton with daughter Elizabeth Emma and son Arthur. He was recorded as a relieving officer employed by the Wellington Board of Guardians. He does not appear in the 1913 Kelly’s Directory of Shropshire so had presumably retired from that role by then. His death, at the age of 67, was registered at Wellington, Shropshire, in the second quarter of 1916.

IN LOVING MEMORY OF
ARTHUR BALL,
DIED NOV. 23RD 1952,
AGED 70 YEARS,
R.I.P.
ALSO OF
CHARLOTTE BALL,
DIED AUG. 22ND 1962,
AGED 73 YEARS.

The 1911 census shows Arthur pursuing a similar line of employment to that of his father William, with Arthur employed as assistant overseer for the parishes of Bolas and Waters Upton. He was still a rate collector in 1913 according to that year’s Kelly’s Directory, but the 1917 edition shows he had expanded his duties to include one of his late father’s former roles – he was “rate collector & deputy registrar of births & deaths for Ercall Magna district of Wellington district”.

The marriage of Arthur Ball and Charlotte Maynard was registered at Wellington, Shropshire, in the first quarter of 1927. The 1911 census shows a Charlott Maynard, age 22, single, a domestic servant born in Stepney, Middlesex, visiting the household of J Harold Cock, a leather tanner, in Shrewsbury. She was probably the 2-year-old Charlotte Maynard living with her parents, Edward Maynard (a general labourer) and Jane, plus siblings Sarah (age 3) and Edward (3 months), at 13 Brewery Yard in Bow, London.

The last record I have found for Arthur and Charlotte prior to their deaths is their appearance on the 1939 Register, soon after the outbreak of the Second World War. The couple were living at Clematis Cottage in Waters Upton, and Arthur was working as a private gardener – but given his former employment in public service it is perhaps not surprising to learn that he also took on an ARP role for the village during the war.