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JOHN ELLIS AND FAMILY 

 

Mary Ann Ellis was born in 1828/1829 in London, England . Her parents were John Ellis and Sarah Morgan.  

 

Mary Ann Ellis emigrated to Australia in 1858 and married Alfred Gilbert at Ballarat, Victoria in 1862.

Mary Ann and her parents are listed In the 1841 and 1851 census records as living at 21 Upper Eaton St, Westminster, London. ( now the lower end of Grosvenor Place ).

 

1851 census:

John Ellis aged 66 years, occupation “Queens messenger, Home Office”, birthplace Escrick, Yorkshire. 

Sarah, wife, aged 50, born Harrow, London; Children - Charlotte 26, Mary 22, Sarah 20, Jane 18, Ann 14, all born Pimlico London.

 

As a Queens Messenger John Ellis would have reported to the Superintendent of Messengers, Lewis Hertslet and been part of the Foreign Office staff. The role was essentially as a Diplomatic Courier. The queen at the time was of course Queen Victoria and it is believed that at some stage John Ellis was based at Osborne House, Queen Victoria's summer residence on the Isle of Wight; in this situation it may be expected that he would have had some direct contact with the monarch. The badge at left was the badge of office he would have worn.

 

Of course Queen Victoria's reign only began in 1837 so prior to that he was a "King's Messenger" as shown on this baptism record for Sarah Ashley in 1831; likewise for the birth of Charlotte Alice in 1824 and Mary Ann in 1829. William IV was the king from 1830 to 1837 and George IV from 1820 to 1830. These must have been some of the earliest baptisms in St Peter's church, Eaton Square which was consecrated in 1827.

The Escrick parish records, available in full at findmypast.co.uk, show births to 2 Ellis families over the period 1765 to 1800. It seems probable that John Ellis was the son of John Ellis, farmer, and Dorothy Gelder, born March 5, 1785. 

John Ellis and Dorthy Gelder were married at St Mary's Bishophill, York on February 7, 1779 - Dorothy aged 30, spinster and John aged 40,  widower. The church (below) dates from around the 14th century with an Anglo-Saxon tower which incorporates stones from the Roman period of occupation and is located close to the city centre.

They had 3 children, the first James born March 4, 1779, then a daughter Alice in 1781 and John in 1785.

The record of James' baptism is remarkably informative including the names of his grandparents, namely:

 

Michael Ellis of Leasehouse, farmer and wife Elizabeth; and Henry Gelder of Land Poppleton ( also known as Upper Poppleton), farmer and wife Elizabeth. Upper Poppleton is a few km northwest of Escrick. 

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Above is the marriage record of John Ellis and Sarah Morgan at St George Hanover Square, London on 8th May 1820.

There is a birth record for Sarah Morgan in the parish of Harrow St Mary to George and Sarah, residence Sudbury. Sudbury is in northwest London close to the famous Harrow Boys School. In September 1798 at St George Hanover Square, George Morgan married Sarah Dunk - these may be the parents of Sarah Morgan; George made a “mark” for his signature i.e. he was illiterate but his Sarah signed her name. 

 

When John Ellis married Sarah Morgan in 1820 he was 35 and Sarah was 21. This was his second marriage; he married Mary Veach in February 1814 at Marylebone, London. They had (at least) one son - William born 1815, a half-brother to Mary Ann. He is shown as informant on her Mary Ann's death certificate when she died at Ondit, western Victoria in 1870 . William married Mary Ann England and had a son in 1855 but both mother and son died shortly after the birth.

It is not clear how John Ellis from a farming family in Yorkshire came to be in London in 1814 aged 29. He clearly wasn't a Queen's Messenger at this time. However it is known that Queen's Messengers are generally recruited from former military officers ( or warrant officers) so it is likely he served in the British military from an early age - maybe from about 1803 - the period of the war against Napoleon.   

John Ellis died in February 1854 and his death was reported in both the Times of London and in the Geelong Advertiser; Sarah died 2 years earlier in Dec. 1851 and they are buried together in the Brompton cemetery - the official burial records  above.

 

John Ellis’s will shows him living at 69 Denbigh St, Pimlico ( at right) with his eldest daughter Charlotte Alice on which property he had a heritable leasehold. 

It appears that he kept the Denbigh Street property throughout his married life but when appointed Queens Messenger he moved his family to Upper Eaton St which is adjacent to the Buckingham Palace gardens. He bequeathed the Denbigh Street property equally to all 5 daughters and his personal possessions between these same 5 daughters and his two sons - these would be William and James Henry, both born to his first wife Mary.

Emigration

Mary Ann’s two younger sisters married brothers, both in London - Jane Eleanor Ellis married Rev. John George Wood in Feb. 1859 and Ann Harriet Ellis married Dr Harvey Wood in 1858. Rev. John George Wood was a well known naturalist and author and fellow of the Linnean Society-contemporary of Charles Darwin. 

Mary Ann Ellis came to Australia about the same time as her sister Ann - on her death certificate in 1870 it is recorded that she was 12 years in Victoria.

Sarah Ashley Ellis stayed in England and married John Simms, a gardener from Ireland; they had 5 children. 

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