Ball, John Stanhope

Place of birth: September 1926; Umtali, Southern Rhodesia (now Mutare, Zimbabwe)

Educated at Umtali High School until 1941 when he transferred to Plumtree School.

1944 attended the University of Cape Town. After one year he joined the Armed Forces. He was commissioned in the Rhodesian African Rifles and served in Burma from 1945 to 1946. After demobilization he returned to the University of Cape Town, graduating with a B. Sc. Degree in Botany and Zoology in 1947.

He was subsequently awarded a Rhodes Scholarship and read for an M.A. in Forestry at Brasenose College, Oxford University.

On his return to Rhodesia in 1950 he was employed at Imbeza Forestry Estates, where he studied local trees and began his interest in orchids. In 1952 he transferred to Charter Forest Estates in Melsetter where he remained until 1971. During this time he explored extensively and collected orchids in the Chimanimani National Park. He was largely responsible for the building of the mountain hut there in 1956.

From 1971 he lived with his wife and family in Umtali until his death as a result of a car accident in 1976.

Orchid studies

Epiphytic orchids of Southern Africa by J. S. Ball, illustrated with paintings by Patricia van de Ruit, was published after his death from his detailed notes. The book was edited by his sister, Jane Browning, with the assistance of Peter Ashton.

John S. Ball's contribution to the knowledge of plants is commemorated in the specific names of the following plants: Aloe ballii Reynolds; Bulbophyllum ballii P. J. Cribb; Nervilia ballii G. Will.; and Zeuxine ballii P. J. Cribb

[This biography contributed by Jane Browning]