John Thomas Ball (1815 - 1898)

Born 24 Jul 1815 in Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

Ancestors

Husband of Catherine (Elrington) Ball — married 23 Oct 1852 in Newmills, County Tyrone, Ireland,

Died 17 Mar 1898 at age 82 in Dundrum, Dublin, Ireland

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Biography

The Right Hon.John Thomas Ball, eldest son of Major Benjamin Marcus Ball, was born at Dublin 24 July, 1815, educated at Dr. Smith's School in Hominick Street, and at Trinity College, Dublin, where he was elected a classical scholar in 1833, and whence he graduated B.A. as a senior moderator in ethics and logics in 1836, LL.B. in 1841, and LL.D. in 1844. He was called to the Bar in 1840, went the Home Circuit, was appointed in 1853 a Queen's Counsel, and in 1857 a Commissioner to enquire into corrupt practices at Galway, was sometime prosecutor for the Crown for Westmeath and Queen's County, and was appointed on the 1 November, 1862, Cicar-General of Armagh. In 1865 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the representation of the Univeristy of Dublin. He was appointed 9 August, 1865, Queen's Advocate, went the Leinster Circuit as judge of assize Spring and Summer, 1866, and was appointed, 21 October, 1868, Solicitor-General, and 4 December, 1868, Attorney-General. In 1868 he was elected a Member for the University of Dublin. He received Hon. D.C.L. Oxford in 1870, and, 17 March, 1874, was again appointed Attorney-General, and 1 January, 1875, Lord Chancellor of Ireland. In 1879 he was nominated Vice-Chancellor of the University of Dublin, and in 1880 Chancellor of the Diocese of Dublin. He was sometime chairman of the Intermediate Education Board and a Senator of the Royal University, and was author of "The Reformed Church of Ireland," 1st edition, 1886, 2nd edition 1890, and of "The Legislative Systems operative in Ireland 1172-1800," 1st edition 1888, 2nd edition 1889.

Dr. Ball married at Newmils, in the Co. Tyrone, on 23 October, 1852, Catherine, third daughter of the Revd. Charles Richard Elrington, D.D., Regius Professor of Divinity in the University of Dublin, and REctor of Armagh. She died at 71, Merrion Square, Dublin, on 7 September, 1887, and was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery.

They had three sons, Charles, Thomas, and the best-known of their children, F. Elrington Ball, who was an author and legal historian, and is still remembered for his definitive work The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 and for his 6-volume History of the Parishes of Dublin. ^[1]

Dr. Ball died at Taney House, Dundrum, on Saint Patrick's Day, 17 Mar 1898, and was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery. ...p. 147

Sources

1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Thomas_Ball

• William Ball Wright, Ball Family Records : genealogical memoirs of some Ball families of Great Britain, Ireland and America, second ed; digital image, FamilySearch Family History Books (https://books.familysearch.org : downloaded 22 Jun 2014), pages 143-148. Cit. Date: 17 Jun 2014; p. 143