Le Touret Memorial & Cemetery, Pas de Calais
William James Ballem’s Grandfather
James Ballem (born on the Isle of Wight circa 1816),
married into the Scott family in Alderney, the Scotts
built Scotts Hotel in 1855, but alas it was burnt down
in 1924.
The Scotts (Master Mariner Captain George Scott Jnr.
(1816-1875) ran the ferry between Alderney and Guernsey,whilst
his wife Esther ran the hotel
William James Ballem was the son of Walter
Herbert Boyce Ballem, who was born in Alderney.
William James Ballem was born in St.Peter Port, Guernsey.
James Ballem’s son Charles Nicholas Ballem ended
up in Melbourne circa 1875-but we have no record of
how he got here (presumably he didn’t swim).
Charles Nicholas Ballem is my Great Grandfather.
I have had immense difficulty in tracing James Ballem
of Alderney background because evidently a lot of the
Alderney records were destroyed or lost during the German
occupation of WW2, but it is fun trying.
I have the same trouble with the Scotts.
I have interrogated William James Ballem’s war
records, where I can, looking for his exact birth date
(I believe he was born in 1892), but alas to no avail
yet.
Len Ballem
Melbourne, Australia
