Alfred Burdon Ellis

Alfred Burdon Ellis (1852–1894) was a British Army officer and ethnographer, known for his writings on West Africa.

The son of Lieutenant-general Sir Samuel Burdon Ellis and his wife Louisa Drayson, daughter of the governor of Waltham Abbey factory, was born at Bowater House, Woolwich, on 10 Jan. 1852. He was educated at the Royal Naval School, New Cross, entering the army as sub-lieutenant in the 34th Foot on 2 November 1872. He became lieutenant in the 1st West India Regiment on 12 November 1873. With them he was ordered to Ashanti, and arrived at the Gold Coast in December 1873, beginning a long connection with West Africa. He served through the Third Anglo-Ashanti War, receiving the medal.

Ellis was temporarily employed as civil commandant during the early part of 1874 at Seccondee on the Gold Coast; he was recalled to military duty in May 1874. In 1875 he paid a visit to Monrovia, and the following year he spent mostly in the West Indies. In March 1877 he visited the Gambia on his way to Sierra Leone, where his regiment was now ordered. He went on leave to England that summer, and on 27 October 1877 was seconded for service with the Gold Coast constabulary. He was sent to survey the country around Mankessim, capital of the Fante country. In January 1878 he went to act as district commissioner at Keta, and in October and November of that year conducted operations of constabulary against the Anlo people.

Wounded, Ellis was ordered back to Accra in December 1878. He objected, claiming to have checked smuggling. On 2 July 1879 he became captain of the 1st West India Regiment. Sent on special service to Zululand, he was attached to the intelligence department during the Anglo-Zulu War. In October he left South Africa and towards the close of this year visited Whydah in Dahomey.

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