Lionel Frederic Ellis

CVO CVO may refer to: Science and technology * Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington, US * Chief veterinary officer, the head of a veterinary authority * Circumventricular organs, positioned around the ventricular system of the brain * Co ...

CBE DSO MC (13 May 1885 – 19 October 1970) was a British Army officer and military historian, author of three volumes of the official '' History of the Second World War''. Between the two World Wars, he was General Secretary of the

National Council of Social Service The National Council of Social Service (NCSS) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Social and Family Development of the Government of Singapore. The organisation is the national coordinating body for Voluntary Welfare Organisations (VWO ...

(1919–1937) and then Secretary of the

National Fitness Council The National Fitness Council in the UK (1937 - 1939) was a government organisation to promote fitness set up according to the Physical Training and Recreation Act, 1937. The Secretary was Lionel Ellis. The National Fitness Council consisted of an ...

(1937–1939). In the 1950s he was an Associate Warden of

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Career

Born in Nottingham, in 1916 Ellis was commissioned into the Welsh Guards from the

Inns of Court Officers' Training Corps The Inns of Court Regiment (ICR) was a British Army regiment that existed under that name between May 1932 and May 1961. However, the unit traces its lineage back much further, to at least 1584, and its name lives on today within 68 (Inns of Cour ...

and saw service in the First World War. Ellis was awarded a Military Cross "for conspicuous gallantry and resource" while leading an attack under machine-gun fire and rose to the rank of captain. In 1919 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for gallantry and devotion to duty, in the advance south of Bavai. He returned to civilian life and became the first General Secretary of the new

, a position he held from 1919 to 1937, then the first Secretary of the new National Fitness Council, 1937 to 1939, working with

Lord Aberdare Baron Aberdare, of Duffryn in the County of Glamorgan, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 23 August 1873 for the Liberal politician Henry Bruce. He served as Home Secretary from 1868 to 1873. His grandson, the thi ...

, the first chairman. In the

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, Ellis was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire "for services in connection with the Coalfields Distress Fund" and in 1937 a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order. On 18 September 1939, shortly after the beginning of the Second World War, Ellis returned to the Welsh Guards and was later appointed as an official historian, contributing three volumes to the '' History of the Second World War''. After the war, he was an Associate Warden of

. His ''The War in France and Flanders'' (1954) begins with the Phoney War of 1939–1940 and deals with the failed attempts of the British Expeditionary Force to defend Belgium and France from the German invasion of May and June 1940. It ends with the confusion of the Belgian surrender, the British failure to defend the Somme and the decision to evacuate British forces from Dunkirk. His later volumes dealt with the Normandy Campaign and the defeat of Germany.

Private life

In 1916, Ellis married Jane Richmond (died 1953) in the Southwark district and they had a son, Christopher St John Ellis (1920–1997), who served in the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

during the Second World War and became a schoolmaster and also one daughter. Ellis died at Harlington, Middlesex, on 19 October 1970. Ellis was a painter and a friend of Rex Whistler, who was stationed with him during the Second World War.Major Lionel Ellis CVO, CBE, DSO, MC
at arts-and-crafts-company.com, accessed 23 July 2016

Major publications

*''Welsh Guards at War'' (1946) *

' (London: HM Stationery Office, 1954) *''History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series: Victory in the West: The Battle of Normandy'' by L. F. Ellis, with G. R. G. Allen, A. E. Warhurst, and Sir James Robb (London, H.M. Stationery Office, 1962) *''History of the Second World War, United Kingdom Military Series: Victory in the West: The Defeat of Germany'' (1968)

Notes

External links

*L. F. Ellis
The War in France and Flanders
full text at ibiblio.org
Ellis, Lionel Frederic (1885-1970), Major and military historian
at National Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Lionel Frederic 1885 births 1970 deaths Military personnel from Nottingham British military historians Welsh Guards officers British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel of World War II Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Military Cross