Ball, Claude Fabian

Claude Fabian Ball was born on 11 Jun 1897 in McKellor, Ontario, to Herbert J. and Annie Ball (née Houston). At the time he was the third child in the farmer’s family. That family grew by three more by the time of his father’s death in 1906, and the sons continued to maintain the family farm. A younger brother, Gordon, who was active in the local militia, joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF) in 1916 and went overseas. Claude and his siblings continued on the farm.

Claude was drafted under the provisions of the Military Service Act of 1917 and enrolled in the CEF in Toronto on 15 May 1918, joining the 1st Central Ontario Regiment. He was sent to England on HMT Carnavonshire in August of that year and was assigned to the Canadian Machine Gun Depot in Seaforth on 13 September 1918 where he spent the rest of the war. Aside from a sprained ankle while playing baseball and a bout of mumps, Private Ball was never sent to a combat zone. Due to this he was entitled only to the British War Medal. The same could not be said of his younger brother, who was killed in France at the beginning of the 100 Days offensive in August 1918. Claude was shipped back to Canada, arriving in Halifax on 20 June 1919, and was demobilized in Toronto 22 June.

The family largely stayed together and by 1921 Claude is shown living with his mother, three siblings and a lodger in Harris township in the Timiskaming district. However, their occupations are listed laborers suggesting that they were no longer farming. It is not clear that he ever married. He died on 19 January 1986 and is buried in the New Liskeard Pioneer Cemetery. The gravestone lists his mother’s name along that of with Claude and four of his five siblings (Gordon being buried in France) suggestive of a family that lived and died together.