According to the records of the
India Office, Ballard was granted a Queen's India Cadetship (IOR/L/MIL/9/300/40) in 1887 but he must have decided against service in the
Indian Army as he was commissioned a
second lieutenant in the
Norfolk Regiment on 11 February 1888, with a subsequent promotion to
lieutenant on 23 April 1890. The regiment was posted to
Burma in 1891–1892 for which Ballard received the
Burma Medal and clasp, and was then posted to India in 1895 for which he received the
India Medal with
Relief of
Chitral clasp. Subsequent service in the
Tirah campaign during 1897 and 1898 saw him
mentioned in dispatches and promoted to
captain on 1 May 1898. He attended the
Staff College, Camberley, from 1898 to 1899. The Norfolks were then posted to South Africa for service in the
Second Boer War (1899–1902). Ballard was seconded as Station Commandant during 1899 and early 1900, with a
brevet rank of
major from 29 November 1899. through to 1902. After the end of the war in June that year, he left
Cape Town in the
SS Bavarian in August, returning to
Southampton the following month. For his service in the war, he received the
Queen's South Africa Medal with 6 clasps and the
King's South Africa Medal with both 1901 and 1902 clasps. Following his return, he was back as a regular officer in the 1st Battalion of his regiment. It was not long, however, before he was on the move again and this time Ballard found himself as Transport Officer for the
Somaliland Field Force during 1903 and 1904 before being appointed deputy assistant quartermaster General in Ceylon in 1905, taking over from
Hanway Cumming, and then deputy assistant adjutant and quartermaster general in Ceylon from 1905 until 1908. Substantive promotion to major occurred in 1908 and he then took up the post of a
general staff officer, grade 2 at the
2nd London Division, in succession to Lieutenant Colonel
Stanley Maude, from April 1909 and 1910 before moving as a General Staff Officer to the
Staff College, Camberley from 1911 to 1913. Promotion to
lieutenant colonel came in 1913, giving him the opportunity to formally wear his father's "Colonel's Sword" bequeathed to him in 1880, and he was appointed commander, 1st Norfolk Regiment and later
7th,
95th and
14th Infantry Brigades,
British Expeditionary Force, France and Belgium, 1914–1916. It was whilst he was General Officer Commanding
57th Infantry Brigade in 1916 that he was wounded at the
Battle of the Somme. His service in France and Flanders earned him three mentions in despatches, a brevet colonel promotion and, in common with his father and with his older brother Admiral
George Alexander Ballard, appointment as a
Companion of the Order of the Bath. Ballard, promoted in January 1917 to substantive colonel, recovered from his wounds and was posted as
Military Attaché to Romania from 1917 to 1918. For his services there, the Romanian government appointed him a Knight of the
Order of the Star of Romania and he received the Collar of the
Order of Carol I, while the British Government appointed him a
Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George. For two years after the First World War, Ballard was Officer Commanding No. 2 District, Scottish Command, 1919–1920 and from 1920 to 1923 he held the post of President of the
Allied Police Commission in
Constantinople. He retired in 1923 and occupied his time in writing a number of books. Ballard died in 1941 and was survived by his wife. ==Family==