Joseph Balsdon was born Bideford, England, in 1885. As a young man he experienced the loss of both parents; his father, James Baldson, passed away when Joseph was just 17 followed five years later his mother, Ellen Wootten. Eleven months after losing his mother, Joseph married Charlotte Orchard in his hometown.
In 1911 they celebrated the birth of their first child, Phyllis, and soon after the young family relocated to Perth where they took up residence in North Perth while Joseph worked as a grocer. While Joseph kept goal for the YMCA club during the 1914 season, his preferred sport was billiards.
He reportedly took up billiards at the age of 7 and had played in the same team as his siblings Frederick, Edgar and Benjamin back in England. He was “reputed to be one of the best amateurs in Perth” according to the West Australian newspaper of 15 August, 1914.
Charlotte was pregnant with their second child, Kathleen, who would be born in early 1916, when 29-year old Joseph enlisted as a Private with the Army Medical Corps. Serving at the Convalescent Depot in London, he was promoted to Acting Corporal in July 1917. A week later he was admitted to Delhi Hospital, Tidworth, with a fractured jaw. Joseph was promoted to Acting Sergeant in March 1918. Complications with how his jaw had healed – specifically, an improper alignment of the mandible – resulted in his return to Delhi Hospital that same month. He was transferred to the Queen’s Hospital for Facial Injuries in Sidcup and then No.2 Command Depot in Weymouth before being discharged from service in July 1918.
On returning home, Joseph resumed working as a grocer with the family moving to Armadale. He served as Treasurer for the Armadale branch of the Returned and Services League and represented Western Australia at interstate billiards tournaments. His wife, Charlotte, passed away in 1953 by which time Joseph was employed as an assistant librarian.
Joseph Balsdon was 84 when he passed away on 21 July, 1969, in Armadale.