Henry Lidgbird Ball b. 1756

  • Artist (Draughtsman)
A naval officer, Ball commanded a ship in the First Fleet. He discovered and named Lord Howe Island and made an ink and watercolour work to commemorate the occasion.
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sketcher, cartographer and naval officer, was baptised on 7 December 1756 in Woodchurch parish, Irby, Cheshire, son of Lucy and George Ball, 'gentleman’. He entered the Royal Navy and served for many years in American waters. Commissioned lieutenant in 1778, Ball commanded HMS Supply in the First Fleet. In February 1788 he left Port Jackson to convey the first settlers to Norfolk Island, on the return voyage exploring a small island which he named in honour of Lord Howe. Ball has had attributed to him an ink and watercolour coastal profile, A View of Lord Howe Island Discovered in His Majesty’s Brig 'Supply’ on the 17th February 1788 / Lieut. Henry Lidgbird Ball, Commander (Dixson Library), and a small sketch of Lord Howe sent to England by Governor Philli

In 1790 Ball contracted fever in Batavia, where he had taken the Supply to purchase provisions for the colony at Port Jackson. In March 1791 he requested permission to return to England, 'having laboured under a violent illness for these several months past, and my life greatly despaired of’. There he recovered. In 1792 he was promoted captain and returned to active duty. He married Charlotte Foster in 1802 but she died the following year. In 1808 he applied unsuccessfully for the governorship of New South Wales; in 1814 he was made rear admiral of the Blue. Ball died at Mitcham on 22 October 1818 of 'an apoplectic fit’, survived by his second wife, Ann(e) Georgina, and evidently by Ann Maria, born at Sydney in 1789, the natural daughter of Ball and Sarah Partridge, a convict.

Writers:
Staff Writer
Date written:
1992
Last updated:
2011

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