Anne Elizabeth Ball

Anne Elizabeth Ball (1808–1872) was an Irish botanist, amateur algologist, and botanical illustrator. Born in Cobh 1808, Ball was a sister of naturalist Robert Ball and zoologist Mary Ball (1812–1898). The siblings became interested in natural history through the passion of their father, Bob Stawell Ball.

Background In 1818, Anne Ball moved from her birthplace of Cobh to Youghal, another seaport town in County Cork, with her family and it was here that Ball, in her early twenties, began to collect and study marine algae. In 1837, her sister and father moved away from Cork to Dublin, where she resided until her death. Anne continued her algae collecting in Dublin and, although not a member of the Dublin scientific societies, Anne established herself as a successful algologist. However, as was then the custom, her work was published by male naturalists such as William Henry Harvey (a friend of her brother's), James Mackay, and others. They also collaborated on Harvey's Phycologia Britannica (1846–1851). Ball also contributed illustrated records of hydroids to William Thompson and these were published in volume four of The Natural History of Ireland in 1856.