Story
William Ballett was a chauffeur by profession working for a Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, motor engineering company and his skills were swiftly recognised by the Army. Unmarried and aged 29 years and 10 months, he enlisted, at Bournemouth, in the Royal Army Service Corps on 27 August 1915. His records show that he was a "very good driver mechanic". (His regimental number was 119324.) William stood at 5ft 9.5ins, with a 37ins chest and weighed 10st 5lb. He had blue eyes and fair hair and lived at 54 Ashley Road, Poole, although his family lived in Clapham, London. He was swiftly posted to France with the British Expeditionary Force, sailing on the SS Express Queen from Southampton, arriving at Le Havre on 5 September 1915. He was then attached initially to the Royal Garrison Artillery though in 1917 Private Ballett was serving with the RAMC's Mechanical Transport Company. William Ballett was granted leave on 28 Dec 1916 to 8.Jan 1917 and from 20 Feb 1918 to 6 Mar 1918, then again in the summer of 1919. He was still in France in 1918 and was finally demobbed on 26 Aug 1919. Medals received included the 1914/15 Star. William had been born in Battersea around 1886.
William's father Frederick, a newspaper print reader, however, was born in Poole; his wife, Fanny, was born in Aylesbury. In 1891, the family lived in Park Grove in Battersea but by 1901 had moved to nearby Wycliff Road. By now both William and his older brother Ernest, had joined their father's trade and were both working as compositors. (Ernest married in Battersea in 1907.) In 1911 Frederick and Fanny's home was at 110 Sugden Road, Clapham. They had had three children, two of whom were alive in 1911 but not living with them. In 1919 and 1920 he was still registered as an elector at 54 Ashley Road, a house also occupied by a couple called Glinister. It is possible that William and Fanny may have moved back to London soon afterwards. From 1922 onwards, a William Cyril Ballett was on the Register of Electors living at Stonhouse [corr] Street, Clapham, London. (The 1939 Register of England and Wales also lists a William Ballet, retired motor driver born on Oct 27 1885, as living in a house in Axbridge, Somerset. Also at the address was a woman called Lilian Tween, born 1890, whose occupation was unpaid domestic duties. Could he have been the same William Ballett?) * Please contact us if you wish to suggest an amendment or have additional information.