Returning to India in 1856 as subaltern of engineers, he was nonetheless decorated with the order of Companion of the Bath, and also with that of the Medjidie, by virtue of his rank and services in the Turkish army.
Ballard returned home in 1861 and married Joanna Scott Moncrieff, daughter of Robert Scott Moncrieff, Advocate Chamberlain of Dalkeith, and Susannah Scott Moncrieff née Pringle, on 30 April 1861 in Edinburgh.