BALL, Samuel Joseph (1835?-1921) — Southampton
Ordnance Survey engraver. Engraved, with Henry Dixon (see BME 2011), the ornament for Fife and Kinross. Sheet 12 : surveyed in 1854, by Captain James, R. E. 1855, the map by John Frazer Ainslie and Charles Patrick Callaghan (see BME 2011); the outlines for sheets of the six-inch survey of Northumberland 1865, etc.
Born in Ireland at Birr, Co. Offaly, about 1835. Ball and his parents — his Somerset-born father, also Samuel Ball, a retired soldier, and his Irish wife, Catherine — had moved to Southampton by 1851. Lodging with them were the Ordnance Survey engravers John O’Neil and William Stewart. In 1861, Ball was lodging with Henry Self, who was then using the name Henry Thompson. Living next door was John Darling. In 1863, he was earning five shillings a day as an outline and writing engraver. He married Susan Perkins (1845-1919), daughter of a shoemaker from Calne, Wiltshire, at Southampton in 1868. Recorded on the 1871 census with his wife and an infant son. By 1881 there six children, as well as William C. S. Perkins, a seventeen-year-old nephew from Calne, employed as a clerk by the Survey. Ball had retired by 1901 and in 1911 was living with his wife of forty-two years, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. After his wife’s death he lived with a son in Bristol, where he died 15 Nov 1921. Probate on effects of £666.3s.8d was granted to two sons 21 Feb 1922.
Ball had retired by 1901 and in 1911 was living with his wife of forty-two years, a daughter-in-law and two grandchildren. After his wife’s death he lived with a son in Bristol, where he died 15 Nov 1921. Probate on effects of £666.3s.8d was granted to two sons 21 Feb 1922. Another son, Guy Arthur Ball (1880-1928), worked for the OS either side of 1900 before emigrating to the United States.
4 Norfolk Terrace, Southampton (home) — 1851
27 Alfred Street, Southampton (home) — 1861
3 Buckland Terrace, Bevois Road, South Stoneham (home) — 1871-1881
80 Argyle Road, Southampton (home) — 1885-1898
236 Priory Road, Portswood (home) — 1900-1901
292 Priory Road, Portswood (home) — 1911
321 Wells Road, Bristol (home) — 1921
Census 1851-1921. LHD. NA. OSP.