Colonel Robert Ellison (17903 July 1843) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer who fought in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

and at the 1815

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (at that time in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium). A French army under the command of Napoleon was defeated by two of the armie ...

Life

The second son of Henry Ellison, of

Hebburn Hebburn is a town in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It governed under the borough of South Tyneside; formerly governed under the county of Durham until 1974 with its own urban district from 1894 until 1974. It is on the sout ...

, County Durham, and Henrietta, daughter of John Isaacson, he joined the

1st Regiment of Foot Guards "Shamed be whoever thinks ill of it." , colors = , colors_label = , march = Slow: " Scipio" , mascot = , equipment = , equipment ...

as an ensign by purchase on 17December 1807. He became a lieutenant and captain on 20December 1812 then saw service at

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

, Spain in 1811 and during the

from 1812 to 1814. During the

Waterloo Campaign The Waterloo campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army was commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, but he l ...

he fought at

Quatre Bras Quatre Bras (, French for crossroads; literally "four arms") is a hamlet in the municipality of Genappe, Wallonia, Belgium. It lies on the crossroad of the Charleroi-Brussels road (currently named N5) and the Nivelles-Namur road south of Genappe ...

and Waterloo, for which he was promoted Brevet Major. At the latter battle he fought with the light companies at

Hougoumont Château d'Hougoumont (originally Goumont) is a walled manorial compound, situated at the bottom of an escarpment near the Nivelles road in the Braine-l'Alleud municipality, near Waterloo, Belgium. The site served as one of the advanced defens ...

where "on one occasion, when he was forced to retreat from the orchard to the chateau, he would have been bayoneted by the French, had not the men, with whom he was a great favourite, charged back, and saved his life. After Waterloo he was at the taking of Péronne on 26June 1815. Subsequently, he became a lieutenant-colonel on 15April 1824 and a major and colonel on 9January 1838 Ellison's profuse growth of dark facial hair earned him the regimental sobriquet "Black Bob".

Family

On 24May 1820, Ellison married the Honourable Mary Montague, sister of Lord Rokeby. His brother-in-law was

Henry Goulburn Henry Goulburn PC FRS (19 March 1784 – 12 January 1856) was a British Conservative statesman and a member of the Peelite faction after 1846. Background and education Born in London, Goulburn was the eldest son of a wealthy planter, Munbee G ...

, who in 1828 became Chancellor of the Exchequer. The names of the couple's children are unknown. Ellison's brother

Cuthbert Cuthbert of Lindisfarne ( – 20 March 687) was an Anglo-Saxon saint of the early Northumbrian church in the Celtic tradition. He was a monk, bishop and hermit, associated with the monasteries of Melrose and Lindisfarne in the Kingdom of Nort ...

(1783–1860) was

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) for

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

and was represented by Robert at the Newcastle upon Tyne Parliamentary election, 1820.

Death

At quarter to nine on the morning of 3June 1843, Ellison as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, was on field duty in Hyde Park where a band was playing and the regimental

colours Color (American English) or colour (British English) is the visual perceptual property deriving from the spectrum of light interacting with the photoreceptor cells of the eyes. Color categories and physical specifications of color are associ ...

flying. No sooner had he given the order to "present arms" when he had some sort of fit and fell from his horse. Despite the efforts of a surgeon present, twenty minutes later Ellison was dead and his body conveyed to his house in Norfolk Street,

Park Lane Park Lane is a dual carriageway road in the City of Westminster in Central London. It is part of the London Inner Ring Road and runs from Hyde Park Corner in the south to Marble Arch in the north. It separates Hyde Park to the west from ...

. At the subsequent coroner's inquest, a doctor testified that although Eliison had "an organic disease of the heart" he believed "that the brain was more involved in the cause of death than the heart"; as a result the jury recorded a verdict of "Died by the visitation of God."

References

;Bibliography * 1790s births 1843 deaths British Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars 30th Regiment of Foot officers People of the Battle of Waterloo {{British-Army-bio-stub