Major Edward Charles Ellice, DSO, JP, DL (1 January 1858 – 21 February 1934) was Liberal MP for St Andrews Burghs.

Biography

He was the son of Robert Ellice (1816–1858) and Eglantine "Tina" Balfour (1816–1907), the grandson of Robert Ellice and

Eliza Courtney Elizabeth Courtney (20 February 1792 – 2 May 1859) was the illegitimate daughter of the Whig politician and future Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, and socialite Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, while Georgiana was married t ...

, a grandnephew of Edward Ellice, and a cousin and the heir of the latter's son, heir and namesake, Edward Ellice, who was a previous MP for the constituency. Educated at

Harrow School (The Faithful Dispensation of the Gifts of God) , established = (Royal Charter) , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent schoolBoarding school , religion = Church of E ...

and

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infantry a ...

, Ellice was commissioned in the

Grenadier Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

in 1876 or 1877, and promoted to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

on 5 August 1886. Following the outbreak of the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

in late 1899, he joined Lord Lovat's Corps as a captain of mounted infantry on 21 February 1900. The corps was raised by

Simon Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat Major-General Simon Joseph Fraser, 14th Lord Lovat and 3rd Baron Lovat, (25 November 1871 – 18 February 1933), was a leading Roman Catholic aristocrat, landowner, forester, soldier, politician and the 23rd Chief of Clan Fraser. While l ...

and served in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

through the war. Ellice was elected at the 1903 St Andrews Burghs by-election, gaining the seat from the Liberal Unionists. He sought re-election at the 1906 General Election but was narrowly defeated.The Liberal Year Book, 1907 During the First World War, he rejoined the Grenadier Guards in 1914 and commanded the 7th (Guards) Entrenching Battalion in France. He was appointed a

Companion of the Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typic ...

in 1918. He was deputy-director of the

Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway The Invergarry and Fort Augustus Railway was a branch-line railway built in Scotland, connecting the named places with the main line at Spean Bridge. It opened in 1903. Serving exceptionally sparsely inhabited areas it was never commercially su ...

Electoral record

Family

He married Margaret Georgiana Thomas (1865–1929), daughter of

cricketer Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

Freeman Thomas Freeman Thomas (born August 20, 1957) is an American automobile and industrial designer who has worked for Porsche, Volkswagen Group, DaimlerChrysler and Ford. Background Thomas, the son of an American military air traffic controller and a German ...

and sister of Major

Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon (12 September 1866 – 12 August 1941), was a British Liberal politician and administrator who served as Governor General of Canada, the 13th since Canadian Confederation, and as Viceroy and Go ...

, on 11 April 1889. They had ten children: *Marion Ellice (8 October 1890) *Edward Ellice (6 December 1891 – about 1893) *Isobel Ellice (18 November 1892) *Alexander Ellice (19 November 1894 – 16 October 1916) died in World War I, age 21 *Margaret Ellice (19 March 1896) *Andrew Robert Ellice (13 October 1897 – 28 September 1916) died in World War I, age 18 *William Ellice (19 December 1898 – 26 November 1914) died in World War I when an internal explosion sank , age 15 *Eglantine Ellice (9 January 1900 – 1989) *Russell Ellice (14 November 1902 – 1989) *Charles Ellice (7 March 1905)

References

''A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland'', Volume 1, by Bernard Burke; Harrison; England; 1894, p. 575.

''Notices of the Ellises of England, Scotland, and Ireland, from the conquest to the present time'', by William Smith Ellis; London, England; 1866, p.140.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellice, Edward Charles 1858 births 1934 deaths Scottish Liberal Party MPs Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies UK MPs 1900–1906 Deputy Lieutenants of Inverness-shire Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Fife constituencies 20th-century Scottish politicians Lovat Scouts officers Grenadier Guards officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Companions of the Distinguished Service Order British Army personnel of World War I Scottish justices of the peace