POWLES/BALL FAMILY TREE

key: bap = baptism; b = born; m = married: d = died; ? = query or unknown; 
* = unproven hypothesis
Sources: Worcester Record Office, parish records, IGI, censuses, birth registration entry,
publications, a helpful BROUGHTON genealogist and a recently discovered third cousin, descended
from Fred Ball. Without the help of these sources and people, too numerous to mention by name,
compiling this information would have been impossible. So a big thanks to them all.
And if you have information about the family which you would like to share,
please do get in touch.
**** July 2001....... A grandson of Henry, brother of Tilley's father, William Henry POWLES, has been in touch and confirms that the family name became modified to POLLES. He also confirms that William was born in Wales and did not have the middle name Henry and suggests that the name Harry BALL was adopted purely as a stage name. However, there is still a mystery about this as on William's marriage certificate his father was described as "William Henry BALL, Butcher." This is most odd and initially led us to believe that William could have been adopted. Indeed, the 1881 census shows a BALL household at Brecknock with the occupation as a butcher so this could be the same family. Now I have located the registration of the birth of a William POWLES at Brecknock, Wales, in 1844. If this is Tilley's father, this may help to solve the mystery! Also, I have just been told that the BALL_HIGHFIELD family hypothesised as being William's parents was inaccurate so this has now been deleted. If you have any further details about William's roots, please get in touch! 

Samuel BROUGHTON = Elizabeth (Betsy) SMART *William Henry BALL =  
of Worcester     * of Worcester             Butcher (according *  
bap 25/1/1789    * b 1804-6                 to wedding         *  
St Mary's        * married 5 Nov 1832       certificate!)      *  
Sailmaker        * St Alban, Worcester                         *
_________________*    _________________________________________* 
T                     T
Matilda BROUGHTON  =  William Henry POWLES [Harry BALL, stage name]
of Worcester       *  of Builth, Brecknock, Wales
bap 15/12/1841     *  b? 
St Peter's         *  China Gilder; performer & theatrical agent 
Dressmaker         *  m  19/8/1862 Whittington
d 15 April 1901    *  d 10/10/1888 aged 46 (2)
aged 58 (1)        * 
___________________*_______________________________________________________________Cont>
T            T              T            T            T             T             T
Amy          Matilda Alice  Elizabeth    Maud         Henry         Jessie        May BALL
of Worcester [Vesta Tilley] (Lizzie)     Elizabeth    of Worcester  of Nottingham of Bham
b 1862/3 (3) of Worcester   of Worcester of Worcester bap 8/10/1871 b 25/5/1875   b 1877
m Tom COPE   b 13/5/1864    bap 2/9/1866 b 1869       m Mabel       M Harry       m Cyril
             bap 11/9/1864  m Harry DAY  bap 2/9/1869               WHITTOME      LESTER
             St Peter's     (2) George   St Peter's                  
             m 16/8/1890    ISSACS       
             (Sir) Walter
             de FRECE at
             Brixton London
             d 16/9/1952
             London
>Cont.
______________________________________________________
T        T           T         T           T         T
Eva BALL Arthur BALL Fred BALL ? (female?) V (male?) M (male?)
of Bham  of Bham     of Bham?
b 1878   b 1879      b 1882
m Arthur m Rose      m Caroline
RABY     BOWLES      EASTMAN
                     (2) Annie
                     GREGORY

NOTES

Little was known about Tilley's mother, except by her name, Matilda Broughton POWLES, after she married William Henry POWLES. Tilley's autobiography hardly mentions her, except by her name and her role in raising a large family of 13 children. I grew up in the knowledge that Tilley was the first cousin of my paternal granny Ada Casselden (nee BROUGHTON) born in 1882 at St Mary's, Paddington (originally Kensington), London, of Alfred and Amelia Matilda BROUGHTON (nee BRIDGES). Amelia, a button maker in the POWLES household in Worcester, came from Bristol and became Alfred's second wife in Birmingham, after which their family moved to north London, where bI was born.

Reading Tilley's autobiography, I realised that her middle name 'Broughton' was actually her maiden name. Discovering that she came from Worcester, I made contact with the then Worcestershire County Record Office which was exceptionally helpful and they quickly found the BROUGHTON family in the 1851 & 1861 censuses. The former included my granny's father, Alfred, while the latter had his sister, Matilda, in residence with their family, including another sister, Elizabeth.

Their parents, Samuel & Betsy BROUGHTON, were then still alive: Samuel was a Sail Maker, and the Record Office discovered various BROUGHTONs involved with oil and sail cloth making and what appeared to be a family business at Diglis, listed in the directories under 'Samuel Broughton and Son.' Alfred was an oil sheet maker and he took his trade to north London.

The 1881 census shows that William Henry POWLES was listed under his stage name Harry BALL, while on tour with Tilley and her young brother, Henry, in Surrey. His birth place was entered as Builth in Wales. On the question of which surname was appropriate, it is worth noting that William married under his POWLES name and that the early baptisms reflect this. The family still used the name POWLES in 1875 when Jessie was born in Nottingham and her father was entered as William Henry POWLES on her birth certificate. The change in the family name to BALL must have occured later and certainly by 1881 when his wife, Matilda, is also listed under the family name of BALL at the family home in Aston, Birmingham. Thus, I have listed the children according to their baptisms supplemented by known family details. At the time of updating this, it seems that all the surviving children are accounted for and listed above.

July 2001

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