Percival Clement ELLIS

England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966

1910

ELLIS Amy Collett of Mount Royd Ilkley Yorkshire (wife of Arthur Devonshire Ellis) died 4 December 1909 at Walmer Villas Manningham Bradford Administration Wakefield 14 March to the said Arthur Devonshire Ellis engineer. Effects £100.

1921

ELLIS Arthur Devonshire of 2 Cardigan-road Richmond Surrey died 15 June 1921 Probate London 9 July to Henry Samuel Homersham Ellis commander R.N. and John Henry Cockburn solicitor. Effects £6498 16s. 2d.

Bradford Grammar School in WW1

PERCIVAL CLEMENT ELLIS

1891-1915 Aged 23

Private 879, 1st battalion Honourable Artillery Company (Infantry).

Percival Ellis was born on 25 September 1893 at Steeton in Craven, the youngest of five sons born to Arthur Devonshire Ellis of Sheffield and his wife Amy Collett Ellis (nee Homersham) of Shooter’s Hill, Kent. Their sixth child was a daughter. Arthur was an engineer and was managing director of Thwaites Brothers Vulcan Ironworks of Thornton Road, Bradford, for more than twenty years. In 1880 this was the largest such concern in Bradford. By 1901 the family were established in Ilkley, first at Lark Hill and then at Mount Royd, Parish Ghyll Drive. From 1904, when he was practically 13 years old, until 1908, Percival made the daily journey to Bradford Grammar School, situated conveniently close for the commuter to Forster Square Mid-land Railway Station. He makes no appearance in the pages of The Bradfordian during these years.

Percival was admitted to Leeds University in October 1908, aged 17, with the intention of qualifying as a metallurgist. He studied Maths; Physics and Chemistry, Engineering, Chemistry and Fuel, and Metallurgy. He also joined the University Officer Training Corps which was launched in January 1909. In his third year, his attendance ceased after Easter 1911, and so he did not graduate. His mother died in 1909, and by 1914 Arthur moved four of his sons and his daughter to south-west London, where they all lived at 2 Cardigan Road in leafy Richmond. Percival was employed by his father’s company Thwaites Brothers as an engineer. On 4 August 1914, the same day Britain declared war on Germany, Percival presented himself to volunteer at Armoury House, the Headquarters of the Honourable Artillery Company in the City of London. It is possible that he and his elder brother Alexander Arthur Ellis enlisted together, for they disembarked in France on the same day, 18th September.

The 1st HAC, a Territorial battalion, was brought up to strength with 500 recruits like Percival who while not fully trained, had OTC experience. They were sent first to western France, where for a month they trained, before they were sent in early November to join 3rd Division at the front south of Ypres. At this time they had never even fired their newly-issued Lee Enfield rifles which consequently were not sighted accurately! They were educated by short spells in the trenches with regular soldiers, both British and Indian. On 3rd December they were inspected by the King and Prince of Wales. On 4th January the 1st and 4th companies were sent into the line at Kemmel, near Ypres. On the next day it was reported all was well in the trenches, but on the 6th, Captain Newton was killed and three men wounded by enfilade fire from a German machine gun. Although the Battalion War Diary does not name the men, Ellis was among them. He was taken to 7th Field Ambulance at Locre, near Kemmel, where he died of his wounds. He was buried in the village churchyard.

Percival’s brother Henry chose the inscription for his gravestone: “Bis Dat Qui Cito Dat” which translates as “He gives twice who gives promptly”. His three brothers who served in the war all survived. His possessions were re-turned to the family in May 1915. They included the Christmas present of a brass box of cigarettes and tobacco given by Queen Mary to all British
soldiers at the front.

Acknowledgements:

The Bradfordian; Ancestry was used to consult the census records for 1891, 1901, 1911, Ellis’s Service Record and the Medal Roll Index cards; The Honourable Artillery Company website, “Out of the noise of battle”, https://hac1418.wordpress.com/; Leeds University War Memorial is recorded on http://westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-people/memorials/1646-the-university-of-leeds-otc-and-roll-of-honour.html; the image of Ellis’s grave is from http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=49407549&PIpi=62161530; I am very grateful to Nick Brewster, Archive Assistant, Leeds University, for providing details of Ellis’s university days, and to Tricia Platts of Bradford WW1 Group for sharing her research on the Ellis family with me. The battalion War Diary WO 95-1415-4 was supplied by the National Archives.

Compiled by Nicholas Hooper ([email protected]/[email protected]) 2015.