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A Victory Medal awarded to Sapper W. S. Ballard, Royal Engineers, who suffered 'many hardshi...
Description
A Victory Medal awarded to Sapper W. S. Ballard, Royal Engineers, who suffered ‘many hardships’ during the Great War as a Skilled Telephonist, and later served as a fire watcher at Kenilworth, witnessing waves of enemy bombers en route to Coventry Victory Medal 1914-19 (56955 Spr. W. S. Ballard. R.E.) minor patch of staining to edge, better than very fine £40-£50 --- William Samuel Ballard was born in Nuneaton on 20 October 1887 and attested for the Royal Engineers in his home town on 21 November 1914. Sent to No. 21 Signal Company, he served in France from 9 September 1915 and was admitted to hospital on 21 October 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. Recovered, his Army Service Record notes that he ended his campaign with No. 3 R. T. Company, being struck off strength in January 1919. Returning to civilian life as a civil servant (telegraphist), Ballard moved with his wife Eva to Kenilworth and caught the attention of The Leamington Spa Courier on 19 September 1941: ‘Retired Civil Servant and the Police Reference to Alleged “Curt Manner.” A retired civil servant’s contact with a police officer was referred to at Kenilworth Divisional Sessions on Wednesday, when William Samuel Ballard, 134 Warwick Road, Kenilworth, was summoned in respect of a black-out offence on August 23rd. P.W.R. J. Smith said defendant refused to give him any explanation and declined to give his name or address. P. C. Matthews, who later called on him, said Mr. Ballard was “very abusive.” Defendant wrote drawing attention to what he described as “the curt manner in which the police officer approached me regarding the matter.” He added: “I am a retired civil servant, and have never been treated in such a manner in all my life. My feelings at treatment like this can readily be imagined, particularly as I served in France for 3.5 years, near the front the whole of the time, and suffered many hardships.”’ Ballard’s protestations appear to have fallen on deaf ears; he was fined £2 - the relatively high sum likely influenced by the streams of refugees entering Kenilworth from nearby Coventry which had been devastated by the Luftwaffe.
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A Victory Medal awarded to Sapper W. S. Ballard, Royal Engineers, who suffered ‘many hardships’ during the Great War as a Skilled Telephonist, and later served as a fire watcher at Kenilworth, witnessing waves of enemy bombers en route to Coventry Victory Medal 1914-19 (56955 Spr. W. S. Ballard. R.E.) minor patch of staining to edge, better than very fine £40-£50 --- William Samuel Ballard was born in Nuneaton on 20 October 1887 and attested for the Royal Engineers in his home town on 21 November 1914. Sent to No. 21 Signal Company, he served in France from 9 September 1915 and was admitted to hospital on 21 October 1916 during the Battle of the Somme. Recovered, his Army Service Record notes that he ended his campaign with No. 3 R. T. Company, being struck off strength in January 1919. Returning to civilian life as a civil servant (telegraphist), Ballard moved with his wife Eva to Kenilworth and caught the attention of The Leamington Spa Courier on 19 September 1941: ‘Retired Civil Servant and the Police Reference to Alleged “Curt Manner.” A retired civil servant’s contact with a police officer was referred to at Kenilworth Divisional Sessions on Wednesday, when William Samuel Ballard, 134 Warwick Road, Kenilworth, was summoned in respect of a black-out offence on August 23rd. P.W.R. J. Smith said defendant refused to give him any explanation and declined to give his name or address. P. C. Matthews, who later called on him, said Mr. Ballard was “very abusive.” Defendant wrote drawing attention to what he described as “the curt manner in which the police officer approached me regarding the matter.” He added: “I am a retired civil servant, and have never been treated in such a manner in all my life. My feelings at treatment like this can readily be imagined, particularly as I served in France for 3.5 years, near the front the whole of the time, and suffered many hardships.”’ Ballard’s protestations appear to have fallen on deaf ears; he was fined £2 - the relatively high sum likely influenced by the streams of refugees entering Kenilworth from nearby Coventry which had been devastated by the Luftwaffe.
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