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 |
| Branch | Royal Navy |
| Years of service | 1875–1921 |
| Rank | Admiral |
| Commands | 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 in British India 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
- Correspondence and papers, MS 80/200 NRA 20623; National Maritime Museum
- Memoirs, 1988/89; Royal Navy Museum, Portsmouth
Publications
- The Influence of the Sea on the Political History of Japan (John Murray, London, 1921)
- America and the Atlantic (Duckworth & Co, London, 1923)
- Rulers of the Indian Ocean (Duckworth & Co, London, 1927)
- The Black Battlefleet (Nautical Publications Company, 1980)
References
- ^ The Dreadnought Project
- ^ "No. 25329". The London Gazette. 18 March 1884. p. 1304.
- ^ "No. 26924". The London Gazette. 31 December 1897. p. 7854.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36692. London. 15 February 1902. p. 12.
- ^ "No. 27632". The London Gazette. 1 January 1904. p. 25.
- ^ "No. 28718". The London Gazette. 13 May 1913. p. 3438.
- ^ "No. 28724". The London Gazette. 30 May 1913. p. 3903.
- ^ "No. 28881". The London Gazette. 28 August 1914. p. 6794.
- ^ Service Record. The National Archives. ADM 196/42. f. 65.
- ^ "No. 32919". The London Gazette. 18 March 1924. p. 2323.
Sources
- "Bombay Almanac"
- The Times (18 Sept 1948), 4
- The Times (28 Sept 1948), 7
- A. J. Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow: The Royal Navy in the Fisher Era, 1904–1919, 5 vols. (1961–70)
- S. W. Roskill, Hankey, Man of Secrets, 3 vols. (1970–74)
- N. A. Lambert, Sir John Fisher's Naval Revolution (1999)