PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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Mr Albert Casanova Ballard, known as 'Archie', did not arrive in Plymouth until 1923. His earlier history has been something of a mystery ever since. Mr George Male has tried to unravel the story for his book "The Pied Piper of Plymouth: Archie Ballard" but there is very little evidence to support many of the theories. It is though Mr Ballard was born in 1867 but there are no records to prove this. It is quite possible, therefore, they he was of foreign birth. He had no known relatives and and may have been born under another name. He was under five feet tall and of swarthy complexion. He had apparently lived at Streatham in London for some 30 years before his arrival in the Town and reputedly owned many properties in Walthamstow, Leyton, Wimbledon and Crystal Palace. This gave rise to an assumption that he had been (or indeed still was) a slum landlord. What is certain is that he had plenty of money. He endowed scholarships at Westminster School and Dulwich College. When he arrived in Plymouth, he was apparently dismayed by the poverty he saw and asked a couple of Royal Marines to help him start a boys' club. This was commenced in the Ebenezer Church Hall in Treville Street but soon moved to larger premises in Athenaeum Lane, near the Theatre Royal. Finally an old soap works in Millbay Road became available so he bought the premises, had them demolished and designed a fine new building to be erected in its place, known as the Ballard Institute. That new building, some five storeys high and with a lift capable of holding 50 people, was opened on May 12 the 1928. It was built by Messrs Solomon and Rennie, who, it is said, went bankrupt because Mr Ballard refused to pay their bill when the cost went over the £60,000 he had been quoted for it.
The Ballard Institute in Millbay Road,
just after At first he seems to have been friendly with Lady Astor but she was very critical of the fact that the club was only for boys. He refused to admit girls and this has given rise to a claim that he hated women. It is also thought that this division provoked him to leave Plymouth and live in Teignmouth, where his house was called "Mount Everest". Many are the stories told of the Ballard Institute and his generosity. One boy who attended a Sunday service held there was seen to be in old and tattered clothes. He was led upstairs, fearing he was to be excluded from the club, but was instead given a suit, shoes and an overcoat, all of the correct size and all brand new. It gave the lad pride in himself. He encouraged the boys to attend Sunday service by giving them sixpence each when they turned up. This worked so well that the regular churches were devoid of young males as a result. To pacify the local clergy, Mr Ballard gave them £40,000 for scholarships. Many other boys found themselves better off in a different way when Mr Ballard celebrated the coronation of His Majesty King George VI in may 1937. They were suddenly presented with a National Provincial Bank book each, with an entry for £5 already in them. This was perhaps double the average weekly wage for a man in those days. Mr Ballard was cunning, however, for what he apparently omitted to tell the boys was that if the fiver remained untouched for twelve months, he would give them an additonal ten shillings. Such was the poverty at the time, in the 1930s, that few boys earned that extra contribution although it has to be said that the original money was mainly spent on new clothes. In 1932 Mr Ballard became president of Plymouth Argyle Football Club and he was also president of the Plymouth Speedway. The Institute was closed down on the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 and the building, along with Mr Ballard's home at Holland House, were bombed in March 1941. Albert Casanova Ballard died of a brain haemorrhage at his home in Teignmouth on August 10th 1942. A new Ballard Centre was opened in Crescent Avenue, at the end of Millbay Road, in June 1963. Sir John Hunt performed the ceremony. Just like the old building, this had games rooms and a dining room but was further enhanced by the addition of an indoor swimming pool in 1965: the first in the City. The Ballard Centre was demolished in 2005 after laying empty for a couple of years.
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