Sir John Ellis, 1st Baronet

Sir John Whittaker Ellis, 1st Baronet (25 January 1829 – 20 September 1912) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom and Lord Mayor of London 1881.

Born on 25 January 1829, Ellis was the fifth son of Joseph Ellis, owner of the Star and Garter Hotel in Richmond, Surrey, from 1830–1847 and lived in Byfleet for some years at Petersham House (built in High Road c. 1859 and now a Lloyds Bank). After a fire at Petersham House, Ellis organised Byfleet's first fire brigade by equipping three of his gardeners with three lengths of hose and an ancient manual pump which was put on wheels and kept in a potting shed. In 1885, he funded the construction of the nearby Byfleet Fire Station to house a volunteer fire brigade. Initially the Parish Council managed this brigade and rented the building and a fire engine from Ellis. The fire brigade was stationed there until 1963, latterly as part of the Surrey Fire Brigade. The building survives relatively unaltered today and became a Grade 2 Listed building in 2008.

Ellis was an Alderman of Broad Street Ward, London from 1872, Sheriff of London and Middlesex for 1874-75 and Lord Mayor of London for 1881-2. He was elected as Member of Parliament for Mid Surrey at a by-election in 1884, and when that constituency was abolished for the 1885 general election, he was returned for the new Kingston constituency.

On 6 June 1882 he was made a baronet, of Byfleet in the County of Surrey, and of Hertford Street, Mayfair, in the County of Middlesex, a title which became extinct on his death. He later became the Borough of Richmond's first Mayor, and purchased the site for Richmond’s first town hall. In 1895 a bust of Ellis was unveiled in the town hall by Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck and this is still displayed on the staircase there.[1] In 1899 he was appointed High Sheriff of Surrey for the year.

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