People on board

ELLIS, George Stringer

George Stringer Ellis was born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire in 1892 to William J Ellis and Ellen (possibly Stephenson). William and Ellen had at least six children, and George was the eldest present in the 1901 census, though two older children were listed in 1891. At this time the family was living in Little Gonerby, Grantham in Lincolnshire, but the birth places of the children showed that they had also been in Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire. In the 1891 census William gave his occupation as ‘Umbrella Maker Pedlar’, while his wife Ellen was an ‘Umbrella Cover Maker’. In 1901 William was a ‘Marine Store Dealer’.

By 1911 Ellen was remarried to William Henry Brownlow for two years, with a possible death of William Ellis in 1909. William Brownlow was a widower with five children, and the household also included three Ellis children, among them George Stringer. Then aged eighteen, he gave his occupation as ‘Driller Ironworker’.

In March 1915 George enlisted in the West Riding Regiment, Service Number 15746, giving his age as nineteen though he was actually twenty-three. His mother, Ellen Brownlow of Grantley Place, Grantham, was his next-of-kin and he gave his trade as ‘Machinist’. However he was discharged the following June because of “Valvular Disease of the Heart” and “Defective Vision and Internal Squint in his Left Eye”.

George married Ethel Beales in October 1916 in Hunslet, Leeds and they had twin daughters, Ivy and Gladys in July 1917. It is not known when he was accepted into the Royal Sussex Regiment, but in October 1918 he was with the 1/6th Battalion, which had been in Ireland since early 1918 and were in Limerick from August.

Returning home on leave he travelled on RMS Leinster on the 10th of October with four other Privates from the Sussex Regiment. Only one of the group survived and the body of George Stringer Ellis was never recovered. His name is recorded on the Hollybrook Memorial in Southampton and on the Leeds Roll of Honour.