IS THERE A PLACE CALLED BAL IN DUBLIN

kabakuyu

The cutting below is from a newspaper published in 1916,the underlined man is from BAL and most likely from the Dublin area,I have searched everywhere and found no reference to the name Bal in Dublin, can anybody help.It refers to Sgt.J.Barrett 9269 Dublin Fusiliers.

Jay D

Can only think it's shortened Bally something, Balinteer or Ballsbridge etc, never heard of Bal I don't think there's a place here called that.

Absurdum

Baldonnel is commonly referred to as Bal

Absurdum

Absurdum wrote: »

Baldonnel is commonly referred to as Bal

Exactly what I was thinking

Lazarus2.0

It's at least as likely to be an abbreviation of a town outside Dublin tbh .

For what it's worth Sgt Barrett would have signed up in 1905 going by his service number so probably appears in the 1901 census (though there are a lot of J. Barretts in there !) .

jeckle

I don't think that the (Bal) relates to an area in Dublin at all. Looking at the list other names have (Dublin), (Belfast) & (Wexford), so the possibility is that the (Bal) could stand for any town e.g. Ballina, Ballinasloe etc. or even further afield. Also, are you sure that it is (Bal) & not (Bai)?

I'm asssuming that you have done a bit of digging on this & if so have you contacted the various related organisations that deal with records? Maybe some of them might be able to help.

It seems that his service number was 9269 so hopefully that should be of some help somewhere along your lines of enquiry - if I were you I'd head over to this forum http://z9.invisionfree.com/royaldublinfusiliers/index.php?act=idx

It's not a busy one, & there don't seem to have been any posts on it for a couple of months, but there is a user there Son-of-A-Dub, who seems to have access to war records, & has helped others with information. You could try posting there or emailing him through his profile.

You'd never know, he might be able to help, or steer you in the right direction.

Sundew

There is a town in County Mayo, between Claremorris and Castlebar called Balla (pronounced Bal)....wonder if this could be the reference....plenty of Barretts down west too

John Mason

if you look at his war records, it will give his address.

_blank_

It wouldn't be BAC would it? Sometimes a C can look like an L

Baile Átha Cliath

jeckle

Des wrote: »

It wouldn't be BAC would it? Sometimes a C can look like an L

Baile Átha Cliath

I wouldn't say so. There are no curves at either end, & the other Dublin names are (Dublin)

To me it definitely looks like an l or at a push an i

kabakuyu

Thanks to everybody for the help and the suggestions, unfortunately there are no service records available for Sgt Barrett,I did find his Medal index Card but that did not provide any more info about him,thats all I have plus the small reference to him in the 1916 times.I hope to get a look at the medal rolls in the near future which may help.
With regard to Baldonnell being called BAL,is that a recent thing?

Reagrsd,
KK.

Roselm

...or BAL- Baile Atha Luain (Athlone)?

Corsendonk

Roselm wrote: »

...or BAL- Baile Atha Luain (Athlone)?

Its 1916 when we had the old management(Empire) in place that didn't use the Irish names. It looks like a shorted version of a town council area.

Corsendonk

kabakuyu wrote: »

Thanks to everybody for the help and the suggestions, unfortunately there are no service records available for Sgt Barrett,I did find his Medal index Card but that did not provide any more info about him,thats all I have plus the small reference to him in the 1916 times.I hope to get a look at the medal rolls in the near future which may help.
With regard to Baldonnell being called BAL,is that a recent thing?

Reagrsd,
KK.

I know this site is work in progress but no Sgt Barrett listed for Dublin
Dublin Casualities WW1

kabakuyu

nessyguin wrote: »

It's at least as likely to be an abbreviation of a town outside Dublin tbh .

For what it's worth Sgt Barrett would have signed up in 1905 going by his service number so probably appears in the 1901 census (though there are a lot of J. Barretts in there !) .

His Silver War badge card indicates an enlistment date of 26/6/1905.

jeckle

According to this site:
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=1324365&queryType=1&resultcount=1

his name was John J Barrett - if you do some more digging around, or contact some of the organisations they will be able to help you further

Victor

I would strongly suspect that "Bal" refers to either the address of record, recruitment post or pre-deployment barracks.

I think it refers to somewhere other than Dublin.

carolmon

Was listening to some radio phone competition a couple of days ago and the caller said she was from Bal in Co Mayo, coincidence because I'd never heard of it and I'd just read this thread the same day.

Sundew

carolmon wrote: »

Was listening to some radio phone competition a couple of days ago and the caller said she was from Bal in Co Mayo, coincidence because I'd never heard of it and I'd just read this thread the same day.

The town exists but it is spelt "Balla" and pronounced Bal.....pisses me off when some RTE announcers don't pronounce it properly.

kabakuyu

Victor wrote: »

I would strongly suspect that "Bal" refers to either the address of record, recruitment post or pre-deployment barracks.

I think it refers to somewhere other than Dublin.

You could be correct,the times article was a casualty list and the location could be either the residence or the enlistment location of the soldier, there appears to be no military barracks/depot of that name.I am also beginning to think it is not a Dublin location,I found a possibility in the town of Balla (Mayo), I have researched other Service records and sometimes locations have been spelled phonetically,( the attestation papers were filled out by someone other that the soldier, sometomes an non irish recruitment sergeant) so it is quite possible he was from the Balla(Mayo) region.
best regards,
KK.

Victor

Unless there is other evidence to point to Mayo, I would be looking at other place, especially those with barracks that start with "Bal" e.g. Ballincollig (artillery / cavalry), Baldonnel (RAFC), Ballykinlar (infantry?), Ballinrobe (cavalry), Ballymullen, Tralee (Infantry), Ballyshannon (infantry, previously horse). Ballina, Ballinasloe, Ballybunsion don't appear to have had barracks.

Sundew wrote: »

The town exists but it is spelt "Balla" and pronounced Bal.....pisses me off when some RTE announcers don't pronounce it properly.

In fairness.

kabakuyu

I have researched and looked at dozens of service records/casualty lists and I have never seen the abbreviation Bal used to describe any of the Barracks/Depots listed,In 80% of cases,the casualty lists detailed the soldiers home town or current residence and the remaining 20% was enlistment location.I will keep digging and post any update that I may find, thanks for the suggestions.
Regards
KK.

The Hill Billy

Hi OP - have you asked over in the Genealogy forum? They may be able to trace his home town.

Sundew

Also might be worth contacting the Royal Dublin Fusiliers Association if you have not already done so.
http://www.royaldublinfusiliers.com/
My Grand-Uncle was killed in WWW1 so WWW1 research is fascinating.
Good luck and I hope you get more info on him

DeepSleeper

Sundew wrote: »

There is a town in County Mayo, between Claremorris and Castlebar called Balla (pronounced Bal)....wonder if this could be the reference....plenty of Barretts down west too

Yep - think this is the most likely - everybody pronounces it BAL

kabakuyu

I finally tracked this man down,stationed in India on the 1911 census and he was from Baltinglass.:)

arybvtcw0eolkf

kabakuyu wrote: »

I finally tracked this man down,stationed in India on the 1911 census and he was from Baltinglass.:)

That was very thoughtful of you to come back. Thanks.

I was interested from the point of view that my great grandfather served with The Royal Dublin Fussilers.

And three generations later (in 2000-2001) I was serving with UNIFIL in South Lebanon and got talking to a guy on duty with me one night.

We spoke about our families military past and it turned out that his grandfather had served with mine in Europe, but his was killed in Gallipoli and mine survived the war.

I still think its crazy that their grandchildren whom they'd have never known went on to serve together in someone elses war almost 90 years later.