Hedley Albert Balls
A Cadet with the Auxiliary Division Royal Irish Constabulary, Hedley died on 5 December 1920, aged 29.
Hedley was born at Lowestoft on 3 April 1891, a son of Thomas James and Caroline Elizabeth Balls. He was baptised at Saint John’s Church on 3 May 1891 and his family lived at 33 London Road. By 1901 they were living at 91 London Road. In 1911 Hedley lived at Browns Fish Depot, Wellington Road, Newmarket, with his brother Charles, and they were both fish and poultry merchants. By 1915 his parents’ home was at 6 The Esplanade, Lowestoft.
Hedley was working as a fishmonger when he joined the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 11 January 1915. He did not go to sea, instead he served with the Royal Naval Division. He was advanced to Able Seaman on 16 April.
On 27 April 1915 he joined A Company, 1st Battalion. On 4 May 1915 he was drafted to Blandford and joined Hawke Battalion and served in Gallipoli.
Hedley was admitted to hospital, at Gallipoli, on 24 August 1915 and was transferred, the next day, to the Clearing Hospital, Gallipoli, with catarrh. On 26 August he was transferred to 16 Stationary Hospital, Mudros, with debility. He was discharged to a convalescence depot, at Mudros, on 29 August. He was transferred to the Base, Mudros, on 11 October, and then, on 21 October, he was invalided to England, viz S.S. Aquitania. Suffering from dysentery. He was posted to the strength of the 3rd Reserve Battalion, at Blandford, on 30 November. On 6 May 1916 he was discharged in order to join an officer cadet battalion.
Hedley was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Bedfordshire Regiment on 22 November 1916. On 26 November 1917 reported for duty with 6th Battalion in France. An obituary in the Newmarket Journal, 11 December 1920, states that Hedley was badly wounded in the head while serving in France. By 22 May 1918, when he was promoted to Lieutenant, Hedley was serving with the Machine Gun Corps. In the latter stages of the war, he may also have served with the Tank Corps. In 1919 he was part of the Army of Occupation in Cologne, Germany.
In March 1920 Hedley married Millicent Blower at Liverpool. Their home was at 11 Queens Road, Liverpool.
On 21 August 1920 Hedley became a Temporary Cadet with the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary, number 72875. At some point he was posted to J Company.
At 2.30 a.m. on 5 December 1920 an officer of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, accompanied by eight cadets, including Hedley, attempted to arrest James Byrne, a suspected housebreaker, at Sallymount Avenue, Leeson Park, Dublin. While the police were searching the house Byrne came of the basement door at the rear steps of the house. Hedley was outside, with the units motor cars, and fired three times at Byrne but Hedley was hit by Byrne’s gunfire and was mortally wounded and died soon afterwards.
The Newmarket Journal commented that:
It is peculiarly sad that such a gallant young officer, after having come safely through many of the hottest engagements of the Great War, should meet his death at the hands of a miserable housebreaker.
Hedley was buried at Lowestoft Cemetery on 16 December 1920. His coffin was borne on a gun carriage and draped with the Union Jack. He was buried with full military honours and many Lowestoft officers who had served in the war acted as pall bearers. Contingents of men from Lowestoft Police and the Federation of Ex-Servicemen also followed.
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Hedley Balls
6
Esplanade
Lowestoft
United Kingdom
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