A Machine Gunner In The Notts & Derbys.

1914 Star.
12360 Pte. S. J. Ball, 2nd Notts & Derby Regiment.

Sydney James Ball was born in 1895 in the village of Skegby, Nottinghamshire, the son of Henry Ball, a coal miner, and his wife Elizabeth. The 1901 Census records the family as living at 64 Chatsworth Street, Sutton in Ashfield, by which time Henry and his wife had had two more children: John (aged 3 yrs) and a baby girl Ann. In due course, Sydney would follow in his father's footsteps, finding work in the mines.

On 12th August 1914, barely a week after the outbreak of war with Germany, Sydney enlisted in the Sherwood Foresters (Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Regiment) at Nottingham. He would have undegone a period of basic training and just three months later, on 11th November 1914, he found himself part of a draft sent out to reinforce the 2nd Battalion on the Western Front. The 2nd Notts & Derbys had left for France on 8th September and had taken part in the First Battle of Ypres, suffering heavy casualties at Ennetieres on 20th October, when the Battalion had been practically wiped out in a confused night action against superior numbers, many of the men being killed or taken prisoner.

Sydney served with the 2nd Battalion through to the end of December when he returned to England. The reason for this is not clear; it is possible he may have been slightly wounded. Whatever the cause, in March 1915 he was again with the Battalion and would serve a further six months in France and Flanders. On 5th October at Ypres, Sydney Ball was in action as a machine gunner when an aerial torpedo fell near to him, smashing up both the gun and the gun-pit. He was struck by several shell splinters and buried up to his neck in earth, which resulted in serious injury to his right knee joint. Evacuated to England four days later, Sydney would spend two months being treated at Southport Hospital before being returned to light duty at Derby.

Over the next couple of years, Sydney would attend various medical boards in order to be assessed for his disability pension. He was unable to walk properly and also needed an operation to remove shell fragments from his thigh. He had been discharged from the army on 5th September 1917 as "no longer physically fit for war service." His intended place of residence was 1a Primrose Street, Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. His Discharge Papers stated that his military character was good and that he was sober and trustworthy. He had served in the army for just over three years and was entitled to a 1914 Star Trio and a Silver War Badge.