George Newell Ballantine

ballantyne

Key Information

Name: George Newell Ballantine
DoB: August 14 1894
Regt:  Manchester Regiment
DoD:  August 7 1915
Academic Career: CGS 1903-9

Biographical Information

  • Family Background

    George Newell  Ballantine was one of five children born to William Newell Ballantine and Minnie (nee Carr). His three brothers died aged two, three and nine years old, leaving his parents with George and his sister Minnie. She became a teacher and died unmarried aged nearly 80. The Ballantine and Carr families lived near each other at Higher Bebington, Cheshire in 1881, William and Minnie married in 1884.

    George’s father had started his working life as a painter and decorator and then became a commercial traveller selling paint. His father’s family had come from London and his grandfather had been a decorator too. His paternal grandmother was Charlotte Rebecca Newell, born in Ireland.

    His mother came from a large family which had finally settled in Cheshire, although his mother was born in Liverpool and her parents were from Yorkshire and Edinburgh.

    George’s maternal grandfather was the most famous member of the family. He was a copperplate engraver by trade, but his passion was bee keeping and he was invited by Thomas William Cowan to go to London and help set up and edit The Beekeeper’s Journal. In 1890 he invented a type of beehive which is known as the WBC. He wrote articles on bees for the 1911 edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannnica but died before they were published.