Ball, William (1),
an English minister of the Society of Friends, was born at Bridgewater, Somersetshire, Jan. 1, 1801. Though he had an abiding conviction from childhood of his duty to preach the Gospel, he did not submit to this call until the year 1846. From a child he was a diligent student, and showed extraordinary readiness in composition of all kinds, poetry as well as prose. He had a great love for solitude, and seldom appeared to his own family or friends except at meal-times. He died June 30, 1878. See (Lond.) Annual Monitor, 1879, p. 8.