Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An M.B.E., A.R.R.C. group of seven awarded to Matron Miss May E. Ball, Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service, late Queen Mary’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve

The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, M.B.E. (Military) Member’s 2nd type shoulder badge, silver, on lady’s bow riband, in Royal Mint case of issue; Royal Red Cross, 2nd Class (A.R.R.C.), G.VI.R. 1st issue, silver and enamel, on lady’s bow riband, in Garrard, London, case of issue; British War and Victory Medals (S. Nurse M. E. Ball.); Defence and War Medals 1939-45; Coronation 1937, on lady’s bow riband, in case of issue, about extremely fine (7) £800-£1,200

Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, September 2012.

M.B.E. London Gazette 1 January 1948.
The Recommendation, originally for the R.R.C., states: ‘Miss Ball is in charge of the Massage and Physiotherapy Department. She has displayed conspicuous efficiency and devotion to duty in her work, and in training personnel in these special duties. She has done much to maintain and, indeed, improve upon the high standard of her work and she is considered to be much above the average both in her speciality and as a senior member of the Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service.
(Note: Submitted by Technical Training Command for the R.R.C. by D.G.M.S. recommends an M.B.E. as Miss Ball has not been employed on nursing duties during the past 10 years, and is therefore not eligible for the 1st Class R.R.C.)

A.R.R.C. London Gazette 1 January 1941.
The Recommendation states: ‘This Senior Sister has displayed competency in nursing duties in Royal Air Force Hospitals and has shown a very high standard of efficiency since her appointment as teacher of massage and medical gymnastics.’

Miss May Eliza Ball was born in 12 June 1893 and joined Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service Reserve on 3 April 1917, serving with them during the Great War in Italy from 12 March 1918. She transferred to Princess Mary’s Royal Air Force Nursing Service as a Staff Nurse on 15 January 1923, and was promoted Sister on 1 July 1926. Appointed Sister-in-Charge of the Massage and Physiotherapy Department at R.A.F. Halton, she was promoted Senior Sister on 1 October 1935, and attended the Coronation of H.M. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey on 12 May 1937, as part of the Medical detachment. She saw further service during the Second World War, and was awarded the Royal Red Cross 2nd Class in the 1941 New Year’s Honours’ List, being invested with the award by H.M. the King at Ely Hospital later that year. She was promoted Matron on 10 February 1943, and retired in 1948, having been created a Member of the Order of the British Empire in that year’s New Year’s Honours’ List. She died at home in Hitchin, Hertfordshire, on 4 November 1978.

Sold with the recipient’s Invitation to the Coronation of H.M. King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, named to ‘Sister Miss May E. Ball’, and stamped ‘Medical’; together with the recipient’s copy of the Order of Service and embroidered armband worn at the Coronation; Certificate for the Coronation Medal 1937, named to ‘Senior Sister Miss May E. Ball’; Buckingham Palace enclosure for the M.B.E.; two letters from the Air Ministry re her retirement, dated 1948 and 1950; with registered envelope addressed to ‘Miss M. Ball, Neville Cottage, Houghton Road, St. Ives, Nr. Huntingdon’; General Nursing Council for England and Wales and Chartered Society of Massage and Medical Gymnastics certificates; and a large quantity of copied research.

Additionally sold with the Bestowal Document for the recipient’s M.B.E., together with the Central Chancery enclosure, in envelope