Richard Ellis

Richard Ellis (November 1820 – 21 August 1895) was an English builder, property developer, alderman, mayor, and a public benefactor to his town. The son of a blacksmith, he was a self-made man who started as a joiner and became a rich developer who joined High and Low Harrogate into a single town, helped obtain a Charter of Corporation, and promoted the erection of civic buildings appropriate for a spa town. Thus he became known as the Bismarck of Harrogate, his achievement in joining two villages to create a single town having been wittily compared in the 19th century with Bismarck's unification of Germany. Ellis was a benefactor to Ashville College and Harrogate Royal Infirmary, and paid for the town's Jubilee Memorial and the land on which it stands. While the present centre of Harrogate was yet under construction, he negotiated with the Duchy of Lancaster to exchange land so that the existing railway line could be diverted to High Harrogate, and Harrogate railway station built. Historian Malcolm Neesam said, "Ellis' devotion to Harrogate must be classed as outstanding". Background Ellis' was a self-made man, and his modest, artisanal origins were known to the citizens of Harrogate. His parents survived, living locally, until he was 51 years old, and his father shared his name; thus he was known as "Richard Ellis junior" for most of his working life. Richard Ellis senior (1794 – 7 September 1871), the father of Richard Ellis, was a Harrogate-born blacksmith and farrier from High Harrogate. Richard Ellis senior's forge was in Church Square, close to Christ Church, but after retirement from blacksmithing he lived in 3 Montpellier Terrace where he was a lodging house keeper in the 1850s and 1860s. Ellis' mother was Ann Ellis, who was born in Knaresborough around 1792. By 1871, Richard Ellis senior had retired and was living in Albert Terrace with his wife Ann, who died in Harrogate aged 80 on 12 February 1872. Richard Ellis junior was born in Harrogate in November 1820, and was one of nine siblings. He had a twin brother, John Ellis (1820 – 28 March 1876), who was a smith like their father and their brother Thomas (born ). In 1841 there were three other brothers, joiner Samuel ( – 14 August 1898), James (born ) and George (born ), and a sister Margaret (born ), living with them at Smythy Hill (which no longer exists) next to Strawberry Dale, Harrogate.