Statue of Captain Albert Ball, Nottingham Castle

War memorial dedicated to Albert Ball, by Edwin Alfred Rickards and Henry Poole ARA, unveiled in 1921 by Sir Hugh Trenchard.

Materials: a bronze statue on a Portland stone pedestal, standing on a polished grey granite base.

Plan: circular in plan.

The elegant and powerful memorial stands in a prominent location in the grounds of Nottingham Castle, on one of the highest points within the city. It comprises a finely modelled and cast bronze statue of Captain Albert Ball gazing upwards with his hands on his belt. Standing behind him is an allegorical figure of a loosely draped female standing on clouds, representing Air, with one hand pointing skywards and the other resting on Ball’s shoulder. The whole stands on a moulded stone plinth with inscriptions on two of the four sides, both within auricular cartouches. On the other two sides are reliefs of a SE5a bi-plane, that to the north flying over front-line trenches, and to the south flying above clouds. The plinth surmounts a wider, tiered base, the whole standing on three lobed steps with smaller interlocking circles at each lobe indent, evoking the petals of a flower. Beneath the plinth, and integral to the base, the bronze ornamentation includes eternal flames, a feather, laurel wreath, scrolls draped in foliage, and scrolled and fanned bronze feet appearing to support the base.

The dedicatory inscription to the front reads: CAPT. ALBERT BALL V.C./ 7TH ROBIN HOOD BATTALION SHERWOOD FORESTERS/ ATTACHED ROYAL FLYING CORPS, DSO (2 BARS) MC/ CROIX DE CHEVALIER, LEGION D'HONNEUR,/ ORDER OF ST GEORGE (RUSSIAN)/ HON. FREEMAN OF THE CITY OF NOTTINGHAM/ PER ARDUA AD ASTRA. To the back of the plinth the inscription reads: IN THE AIR/ HE GAVE MOST CONSPICUOUS/ AND GALLANT SERVICE TO/ HIS COUNTRY AND WAS KILLED/ IN ACTION FIGHTING GLORIOUSLY/ MAY 7TH 1917 AGED 20 YEARS/ PER ARDUA AD ASTRA.

The memorial stands on the scheduled site of Nottingham Castle (NHLE 1006382) and in very close proximity to numerous listed structures, including the Castle gatehouse (NHLE 1247094), Castle Museum and Art Gallery (NHLE 1271188), and the Castle outer bailey, wall and towers (NHLE 1246765) all of which are listed at Grade I. A war memorial sundial (NHLE 1246763) and a war memorial obelisk (NHLE 1271191) both listed at Grade II, stand within 80m of the Albert Ball memorial, forming an important group.

This List entry has been amended to add sources for War Memorials Online and the War Memorials Register. These sources were not used in the compilation of this List entry but are added here as a guide for further reading, 16 June 2017.