Henry Augustus Ellis (24 July 1861 – 3 October 1939) was an

Irish Australian Irish Australians ( ga, Gael-Astrálaigh) are an ethnic group of Australians, Australian citizens of Irish descent, which include immigrants from and descendants whose ancestry originates from the Ireland, island of Ireland. Irish Australians ...

physician and federalist, important in the promotion of

federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Ellis, was the fourth son of Colonel Francis Ellis of

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six Counties of Northern Ireland, counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional Counties of Ireland, counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an admini ...

, Ireland, and his wife Louisa, ''née'' McMahon. He was educated at St Columba's, county Tyrone and

Trinity College, Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, where he graduated M.B. in 1884, and Ch.B. in 1885. Ellis then migrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, was a resident at

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hospital for two years, and from 1890 to 1894 was an honorary physician and surgeon to the hospital. He went to Coolgardie in 1894 and had charge of the government sanatorium there, took an intense interest in his work, in which he was most successful, and also interested himself in local politics and the federation movement. Western Australia did not take part in the referendum held in 1898, and the government under Forrest was opposed to the proposals for federation as late as the end of 1899. However, on the Western Australian goldfields, the public sentiment was strongly in favour of federation, and on 13 December 1899 a meeting of delegates was held which decided to send a petition to the Queen praying for the establishment of a separate goldfields colony, which would become part of the Australian Commonwealth. Some 28,000 signatures were obtained to this petition and an immense amount of propaganda matter, mostly drafted by Ellis, was sent to the British press and members of the House of Commons. As a result, Chamberlain intimated to Forrest that if the electors of Western Australia were not given an opportunity of voting on the question of federation, the Imperial parliament would be compelled to consider seriously the request of the people of the goldfields. Parliament was called together, a referendum bill was passed, and eventually there was a large majority in favour of federation. In 1904 Ellis was elected to the Western Australian parliament but only served until 1905, when he left the Labor Party to run unsuccessfully as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. He returned to medical practice in Coolgardie after leaving politics, and in 1912 served as a

Municipality of Coolgardie The Municipality of Coolgardie was a Local government areas of Western Australia, local government area in Western Australia, centred on the town of Coolgardie, Western Australia, Coolgardie. It was established on 4 July 1894. It initially met in ...

councillor. Ellis married Kassie Gordon Wylie on 4 April 1914 and they went to

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. Ellis was by now aged 52 years and was making a fresh start. During the war years he was

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

officer in

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, and in 1919 came to

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as assistant physician at the Margaret-street hospital for diseases of the chest. Later he established a consultant practice in

Harley Street Harley Street is a street in Marylebone, Central London, which has, since the 19th century housed a large number of private specialists in medicine and surgery. It was named after Edward Harley, 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer.< ...

which was successful. Part of this arose from his sympathetic understanding of the action of the mind on the body. He published in 1923 ''How shall I be saved from Consumption'', and two short treatises followed, ''Reaction in Relation to Disease'' (1924), and ''An Explanation of Hydrogen Concentration'' (1925). He died after a long illness at

Crowborough Crowborough is a town and civil parish in East Sussex, England, in the Weald at the edge of Ashdown Forest in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, 7 miles (11 km) south-west of Royal Tunbridge Wells and 33 miles (53 ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

, on 3 October 1939 and was survived by his second wife.

References

* *G. C. Bolton,
Ellis, Henry Augustus (1861 - 1939)
, ''

Australian Dictionary of Biography The ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' (ADB or AuDB) is a national co-operative enterprise founded and maintained by the Australian National University (ANU) to produce authoritative biographical articles on eminent people in Australia's ...

'', Volume 8, MUP, 1981, pp 433–434. Retrieved on 12 October 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis 1861 births 1939 deaths Australian surgeons Australian federationists Irish emigrants to colonial Australia People from County Tyrone Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly