was the next resident. Charles Balls was born in 1810 in Cambridge, son of farm labourer Henry Balls. He became a shoe-maker, subsequently making his fortune as a leather merchant. In 1858 and 1859 he was appointed Mayor of Cambridge, and was later one of the Directors of the Cambridge University and Town Waterworks Company and, at one time, was Chairman of the Cambridge University and Town Gas Light Company. His wife Eliza died in 1876 at Cherry Hinton Hall and Charles and his daughters lived at the Hall until 1888 when they moved back to Cambridge. Charles died in 1892 in his Cambridge home at the age of 82. By 1902, Richard Thomas Lyons MD lived at the Hall. In 1902 solicitor Sir William Phene Neal, 1st Baronet (Lord Mayor of London in 1930) and his wife came to live at the Hall, and remained there for many years. It appears that Neal operated a dairy farm on the estate, as reference is made in a trade magazine to the “Cherryhinton Hall Farm Dairy". In the 1930s the Hall and surrounding land was purchased by the Cambridge City Council and they still own it today. References External links Cherry Hinton Hall at British History 2XL Cherry Hinton Hall Project Cambridge City Council Friends of Cherry Hinton Hall Buildings and structures in Cambridge Parks and open spaces in Cambridge Country houses in Cambridgeshire