William Alexander Balls

A Private with 2nd Bn., William died on 13th of November 1916 at the age of 19. 

William was born at Lowestoft in 1897 a son of Arthur Nathaniel and Emma E. Balls. In 1901 his family lived at 29 Cambridge Road, Lowestoft, and by 1911 they were living at 70 Ipswich Road, Lowestoft. 

William enlisted in the Army at Lowestoft. He joined the Suffolk Regiment and served in France with the 2nd Battalion.

Colonel Murphy’s ‘The History of the Suffolk Regiment 1914-1927’ has the following account of the 2nd Battalion’s attack at Serre on 13 November 1916:

At 5 a.m. the first wave floundered forward into No Man’s Land – in reality, a sea of mud in which movement was barely possible. Three quarters of an hour later the attack began. The mist which hung about the low ground thickened as the smoke of the barrage increased, making direction extremely difficult to maintain. Within a very short time all the officers in the leading companies had fallen, and owing to lack of leaders no real progress was made. In spite of the atrocious weather conditions prevailing, portions of the leading Suffolk companies actually reached the German second line. But all was in vain, and the battalion having been reorganised in its original front line, remained there for the rest of the day, marching back to Courcelles the next morning. Their casualties numbered 272, including eleven officers.  

William was reported missing on 13 November and it was not until mid-1917 that it was concluded that he had been killed in action on that date. 

William's brother Arthur died in 1917 in the loss of the trawler Willing Boys and his brother-in-law James Howlett was killed in 1916 in the loss of the trawler Datum.