George Alexander Ballard

George Alexander Ballard
Born March 7, 1862
Bombay, India
Died September 16, 1948 (aged 86)
Hill House, Downton, near Salisbury, Wiltshire
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch Royal Navy
Years of service 1875–1921
Rank Admiral
Commands held Janus
Isis
Royal Arthur[1]
Terrible
Hampshire
Commonwealth
Britannia
Battles/wars Mahdist War, Third Anglo-Burmese War, First World War
Other work Author

Admiral George Alexander Ballard, CB (7 March 1862 – 16 September 1948) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a historian.

Biography

Ballard was the eldest son of General John Archibald Ballard (1829–1880), and his wife Joanna, the daughter of Robert Scott-Moncrieff, and was born at Malabar Hill, Bombay on 7 March 1862.

He joined the Royal Navy as a Sub-lieutenant, was promoted Lieutenant 15 March 1884,[2] and Commander 31 December 1897.[3] In February 1902 he was ordered to six months´ service at the Admiralty.[4] He was further promoted Captain 31 December 1903.[5] In May 1913, Ballard was appointed a naval aide-de-camp to King George V,[6] and in the King´s Birthday Honours 3 June 1913 he was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath.[7] The following year he was appointed Rear admiral 27 August 1914.[8] He became Admiral Superintendent Malta Dockyard in September 1916.[9]

After a long and active career in the Navy he retired as vice-admiral in 1921 and was advanced to the rank of admiral on the Retired List in 1924.[10]

During the 1930s he contributed two extensive series of technical articles on the warships of the Mid Victorian Navy to the quarterly Mariner's Mirror, one series on the armoured vessels (which was subsequently republished in a consolidated form in his book The Black Battlefleet) and one on lesser warships.

Archives

Publications

References

  1. The Dreadngouth Project
  2. The London Gazette: no. 25329. p. 1304. 18 March 1884.
  3. The London Gazette: no. 26924. p. 7854. 31 December 1897.
  4. "Naval & Military intelligence" The Times (London). Saturday, 15 February 1902. (36692), p. 12.
  5. The London Gazette: no. 27632. p. 25. 1 January 1904.
  6. The London Gazette: no. 28718. p. 3438. 13 May 1913. Retrieved 2010-10-25.
  7. The London Gazette: no. 28724. p. 3903. 30 May 1913.
  8. The London Gazette: no. 28881. p. 6794. 28 August 1914.
  9. Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 65.
  10. The London Gazette: no. 32919. p. 2323. 18 March 1924.

Sources

External links

Honorary titles
Preceded by
J de M Hutchison
Naval Aide-de-Camp to the King
1913 to ?
Succeeded by
Unknown
Military offices
Preceded by
Arthur Limpus
Admiral Superintendent, Malta Dockyard
1916–1918
Succeeded by
Brian Barttelot