John Ellis (1789–1862), of Beaumont Leys and Belgrave Hall in Leicester,[2] was an English Quaker, a noted Liberal reformer and an accomplished businessman. Ellis was Chairman of the Midland Railway from 1849 to 1858 and a Member of Parliament for Leicester between 1848 and 1852.
John Ellis M.P. | |
|---|---|
 At the 1840 Anti-Slavery conference[1] | |
| Born | 3 August 1789 Beaumont Leys, Leicester, England |
| Died | 26 October 1862 Belgrave Hall, Belgrave, Leicester, England |
| Resting place | Leicester public cemetery |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Known for | Railways |
| Board member of | Midland Railway |
Birth
editJohn Ellis was born near Leicester in 1789 to Joseph and Rebekah Ellis who were both members of the Society of Friends.
Life
editAs a Quaker he was involved with the 1840 World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London and was included in the painting of it that is now in the National Portrait Gallery in London.[1]
He was instrumental in establishment of the Leicester and Swannington Railway[3] and in 1842 served as a director of the Midland Counties Railway and was the major instigator in its amalgamation into the Midland Railway in 1844, being deputy-chairman from its establishment and becoming its chairman from 1849 to 1858 after the fall of George Hudson. He was also a director of the London & Birmingham, Birmingham & Gloucester and Dunstable Railways; and later of the Manchester & Buxton and London and North Western Railways. Ellis ran his family's 400 acre farm and orchard until 1846, owned a coal and lime merchandising company, and started a worsted spinning company, Whitmore & Ellis. He was also a partner and agent in two collieries. In 1858 he served as director of Pare's Leicester Banking Company as well a chairman of the Leicester Savings Bank. In public service, Ellis served as a Leicester town councilor in 1837 and a Leicester Alderman in 1838 prior to becoming an MP.[2]
In 1845, John Ellis encountered Edward Sturge and Joseph Gibbons while they were travelling to a meeting regarding the sale of the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway to the Great Western Railway. Ellis saw an opportunity and offered that his company would purchase the Gloucester companies with 6% on their capital of £1.8 million if discussions with the GWR were inconclusive. The GWR declined to increase their offer, and the Gloucester companies turned back to Ellis.[4]
Death and legacy
editJohn Ellis died in 1862 at Belgrave Hall[2] and was survived by a son, Edward Shipley Ellis, from his first marriage to Martha Shipley (d:1817); his second wife Priscilla Evans, and their three sons and six daughters.[5]
A grandson, also John Ellis, who lived 1841 to 1910, married into the Rowntree family (a prominent Quaker family), and became a Liberal politician and from 1905 to 1907 served as under-secretary of state for India in the Campbell-Bannerman administration.
Two great-granddaughters, Marian (Baroness Parmoor) and Edith Ellis were active anti-war campaigners at the time of the First World War. Marian strongly influenced her stepson, the politician Stafford Cripps.
Ellis Avenue and Ellis Meadows (2016), a 20-acre park and nature reserve created within the grounds of the former John Ellis School (closed in 1999), in Belgrave were named for him.
References
edit- ^ a b Benjamin Haydon, The Anti-Slavery Society Convention Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. 1840. Retrieved April 2009.
- ^ a b c Moore, Andrew (2003). Ellis of Leicester: A Quaker Family's Vocation. Narborough: Laurel House Publishing. ISBN 0-9533628-1-7.
- ^ Barnes, E. G. (1966). The Rise of the Midland Railway, 1844–1874. London: George Allen & Unwin.
- ^ Long, P. J. (1987). The Birmingham and Gloucester Railway. Gloucester: Alan Sutton. p. 83. ISBN 0-86299-329-6.
- ^ Christy, Miller, rev. Alan R. Griffin (2004). "Ellis, John (1789–1862)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press, online ed., September 2012. Retrieved 2015-07-23. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
- Billson, Peter (1996). Derby and the Midland Railway. Derby: Breedon Books. ISBN 1-85983-021-8.