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Auction: 7029 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 388

A Well Documented ´Northwest Frontier´ Pair to Lieutenant-Colonel E.A. Ball, Royal Warwickshire Regiment India General Service 1854-95, one clasp, Northwest Frontier (Ensgn E.A. Ball H.M.s. 1st. Bn. 6th. Regt.); Afghanistan 1878-80, no clasp (Lieut. E.A. Ball. 1/6th. Regt.), contact marks, nearly very fine, together with the recipient´s damaged scrap-book, containing the following official documents, letters &c.: - Horse Guards Letter to the recipient confirming his appointment as Ensign in the 6th Foot, dated 25.9.1867 - Letter from the Officer Commanding, 1st Battalion, 6th Foot, regarding the recipient´s purchase of a Lieutenancy, dated 31.10.1870 - Commission appointing Edward Arthur Ball, Gentleman, as Lieutenant, 6th Regiment of Foot, dated 28.10.1871 - Thomason College of Civil Engineering Certificate certifying that the recipient has qualified as a Military Surveyor and Field Engineer, dated 1.5.1872, together with the results of the Examination, showing the recipient finishing top of his Class - Commission appointing Edward Arthur Ball, Gentleman, as Adjutant, dated 27.4.1875 - Programme for the Ceremony for the Proclamation of the Imperial Title assumed by Her Majesty the Queen, Delhi, 1.1.1877, together with a copy of His Excellency the Viceroy´s address - School of Instruction in Army Signalling Certificate certifying the recipient has qualified to act as Instructor in Army Signalling, dated 12.8.1881 - Examination for Promotion Special Certificate for the rank of Major, certifying the recipient as "Distinguished" in Military Law, Tactics, Military Topography, and Fortification, dated 23.2.1883, together with the results of the Examination, showing the recipient finishing top of his Class - Two Letters (the original and a copy) to the Officer Commanding, 1st Battalion, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, conveying His Royal Highness the Field Marshal Commanding -in-Chief´s approval of the zeal and diligence of Captain Ball, as evidenced by the ´exceptionally good examination´ for the rank of Major, dated 26.2.1883 - First Class Certificate certifying that the recipient has qualified to instruct in the Theory and Practice of Musketry, and that he possesses a satisfactory knowledge of the Theory of the motion of Projectiles; of the History, Manufacture, and Explosive Force of Gunpowder; and of the History of Small-arms, dated 30.6.1883 - St. John Ambulance Association Certificate certifying that the recipient is qualified to render ´First Aid to the Injured´, dated May 1887 - Letter from the War Office acknowledging the recipient´s willingness to be employed on active service, if required, dated 21.12.1899 - Two of the recipient´s Passports, dated 8.1.1884, and 21.7.1892, and respectively - The first letter written by the recipient to his Mother, dated 4.7.1855 - A series of nine letters from the recipient to Miss M. Kent, written during midsummer 1892, six with their original envelopes, addressed to 206 Cromwell Road, S.W. - Telegram from the recipient to Miss Kent - The pressed remains of a flower in an envelope addressed to Mrs. E.A. Ball, 11 Great Marlborough Street - Invitation to the recipient to a Ball to be held at Buckingham Palace, dated 25.5.1881 - Various letters and other correspondence The Recipient´s sword, a post-1857 pattern sword, 965mm, with regulation blade by Henry Wilkinson, London (Serial no. 23727), etched with foliate decoration and VR cypher, with wire-bound fishskin grip and gilt guard, in its brass scabbard (lot) Estimate £ 600-800 Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Arthur Ball, born April 1848; Commissioned Ensign, 6th Foot, September 1867; departed for India aboard H.M. Indian troopship Jumna; Served with the Regiment in the North West Frontier as part of Major-General A.T. Wilde, C.B., C.S.I.´s Expedition against the Bazoti Black Mountain tribes, October 1868, the last of the expeditions which qualified for the Northwest Frontier clasp: ´the early and deliberate use of the field and mountain guns struck such terror into the hearts of these brave but undisciplined savages, that they left their hitherto impregnable fastnesses, and would no longer resist the art and power of civilisation and discipline...the whole of the objects with which the mountain had been ascended had been attained...with the loss of only some 30 killed and wounded we have subdued powerful tribes and established a prestige that it will take years to efface.´ (Letter to The Times included in the lot, dated 8.10.1868 refers); Lieutenant, October 1871; Adjutant, 6th Foot, April 1875 - March 1880; Present at the Imperial Assemblage at Delhi for the Proclamation of Her Majesty the Queen as Empress of India, 1.1.1877; served during the Second Afghan War as Transport Officer, Khyber Division, Kabul Field Force, 1879-80; Captain, April 1880; Major, April 1883; Appointed Instructor in Tactics, Royal Military College, Sandhurst, September 1885- the appointment was obviously a profitable one in terms of connections, for in May 1889 Major Ball was invited to Sheen House, the London residence of the Count and Countess of Paris; Resigned from the Royal Military College, April 1890: ´The Governor takes this opportunity to record his thanks to Major Ball for his services both as an Instructor and also whilst Commanding "A" Company- for more than four years the Division, or Company under this Officer´s Command has been conspicuous for its "Esprit de Corps" and the soldierlike bearing, and this the Governor attributes to Major Ball´s influences´ (Extract from Royal Military College Orders, 16.4.1890 refers); Retired with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, May 1891 A Whirlwind Romance During the midsummer of 1892, Lieutenant-Colonel Ball embarked on a whirlwind romance with Miss Mabel Kent: ´Dear Miss Kent...I am very thankful to you for letting me see you...I shall come at 3 o´clock if that time will suit you´ (6.6.1892); ´Darling Mabs...as we are to live in the country I presume a country suit for the photograph´ (13.6.1892); ´My darling Mabs, When you start housekeeping please supply me with thin milk and decent pens´ (7.7.1892); ´...Sunday morning to St. Martin´s in the Field to hear that the banns are being published- after which period of the service I shall probably feel faint...´ (8.7.1892). Lieutenant-Colonel Ball and Miss Kent were married on the 28th July 1892.

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