St George’s Chapel Archives holds the personal papers of Henry John Ellison. They were presented to the chapel in 1994 by Mrs Jane Ellison, a Widow of a Gerald Ellison, who was one of Henry John Ellison’s descendants. Further records were presented in 1999 by Mrs E H Colville, great-granddaughter of Ellison.
Ellison was most famous for the time he spent helping set up the Church of England Temperance Society in 1862, which he was chairman of until 1891. He was also vicar of Brighton (1840-43), of Edensor (1845-55), of New Windsor and reader at Windsor Castle (1855-75). Ellison was a notable activist in supporting prohibition and was very much for the banning of alcohol.
Some of the letters and documents received include information on Ellison’s work at Windsor, with a request from Gerald Wellesley, Dean of Windsor 1854-1882, offering Ellison the parish of New Windsor. His work in Windsor was appreciated so much that a silver medallion was presented to him by the Windsor Working Men’s Temperance Society in 1881.
There are also personal letters written to and from Ellison during his time as founder and Chairman of the Temperance Society. Finally, the collection contains letters of thanks and words of wellbeing sent to Ellison during his illness which forced him to abdicate his role as Chairman.
Additional papers have recently been deposited in the Archives which will further add to this collection. These are currently undergoing cataloguing and will be available for research shortly.
Layla Holden, Chloe Roach, Mollie White (Windsor Girls’ School)