George Ballard

George Ballard (c. 1706- June 1755) was an English antiquary and biographer, the author of "Memoirs of British Ladies" (1752).

Ballard was born at Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire. Self-educated, Ballard taught himself Saxon while working in a habit-maker's shop, and attracted the attention of the Saxon scholar Elizabeth Elstob. Lord Chedworth and other local gentleman provided him with an annuity of £60 a year, enabling Ballard to move to Oxford to use the Bodleian Library. Dr. Jenner appointed him a clerk of Magdalen College, Oxford, and he subsequently became a university beadle.

Ballard died young, and his only printed publication was "Memoirs of several ladies of Great Britain, who have been celebrated for their writings, or skill in the learned languages, arts and sciences" (1752). This quarto volume was published by subscription, and dedicated to Mrs Talbot of Kineton, the wife of a clergyman who had helped him receive patronage as a young man, and Mary Delany. The first woman treated by Ballard's "Memoirs" was Juliana of Norwich; the last was Constantia Grierson (1704/5–1732).

Ballard left a large manuscript collection, and his substantial correspondence, to the Bodleian.

References

* Allibone, S. A. "A critical dictionary of English literature". 1859-71.
* Ballard, George. ""Memoirs of several ladies of Great Britain". Edited with an introduction by Ruth Perry. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1985.
* Chalmers, A. "The general biographical dictionary". 1812-1817.
* David Vaisey, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1235 ‘Ballard, George (1705/6–1755)’] , "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 12 Feb 2007.