John Ball (naturalist)

John Ball (20 August 1818 – 21 October 1889) was an Irish politician, naturalist and Alpine traveller, eldest son of an Irish judge, Nicholas Ball and his wife Jane Sherlock.

Education

He was born in Dublin, and educated at Oscott College near Birmingham, and at Christ's College, Cambridge. He showed in early years a taste for natural science, particularly botany; and after leaving Cambridge he travelled in Switzerland and elsewhere in Europe, studying his favourite pursuits, and contributing papers on botany and the Swiss glaciers to scientific periodicals.

Politics

In 1846 he was made an assistant poor-law commissioner, but resigned in 1847, and in 1848 stood unsuccessfully as a parliamentary candidate for Sligo. In 1849 he was appointed second poor-law commissioner, but resigned in 1852 and successfully contested the Carlow County constituency in the Liberal interest. In the British House of Commons he attracted Lord Palmerston's attention by his abilities, and in 1855 was made Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, a post which he held for two years.

At the colonial office he had great influence in furthering the cause of natural science, particularly in connection with equipment of the Palliser Expedition in Canada (for his efforts, the Ball Range in the Canadian Rockies was named after him), and with William Jackson Hooker's efforts to obtain a systematic knowledge of the colonial floras.

Alpinist

In 1858 he stood for County Limerick, but was beaten, and he then gave up politics and devoted himself to natural history. He was first president of the Alpine Club (founded 1857), and it is for his work as an Alpinist that he is chiefly remembered, his well-known "Alpine Guide" (London, 1863 - 1868) being the result of innumerable climbs and journeys and of careful observation recorded in a clear and often entertaining style. He also travelled in Morocco (1871) and South America (1882), and recorded his observations in books which were recognized as having a scientific value. [Tyndall pages 169,352,380,406 "veined ice of glacier, if unweathered, shows no tendency to cleave"] He died in London.

Notes

References

*cite book| title=The Glaciers of the Alps| author=John Tyndall| date=1896
publisher=Longmans, Green and Co.| url=http://www.archive.org/details/glaciersalpsbeing00tyndrich NEW EDITION
*1911
*Gordon L. Herries Davies, ‘Ball, John (1818–1889)’, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1217 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography] , Oxford University Press, 2004