Roger Wykeham Ellis CBE (3 October 1929 – 14 February 2023) was a British schoolmaster, successively head of Rossall School and Marlborough College and Chairman of the Headmasters' Conference.
Roger Wykeham Ellis | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 3 October 1929 Paddington, London, England |
| Died | 14 February 2023 (aged 93) |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Headmaster |
Early life
editBorn in Paddington, Westminster,[1] in October 1929,[2][3] the son of Cecil Ellis, a solicitor, and his wife Pamela Unwin, Ellis was educated at St Peter's School, Seaford, Winchester College, and Trinity College, Oxford, where he held a scholarship and graduated BA and MA (conferred).[3]
Descended through his mother from William the Conqueror,[4] he served in the Royal Navy from 1947 to 1949.[3]
Career
editEllis was appointed an assistant master at Harrow School in 1952 and served as housemaster of the Headmaster's House there from 1961 to 1967. In September of that year he took up his first headship, at Rossall School, and in 1972 transferred to Marlborough College as Master (or head),[3] succeeding J. C. Dancy.[5] In the Michaelmas term of 1973, Ellis preached a sermon in the chapel of Abingdon School,[6] and in the summer of 1977 visited Stowe School for the same purpose.[7]
Marlborough College was the first boys' public school in England to admit girls, and in March 1974 Ellis told The New York Times that "The senior boys had a strong social need for the idea, and the girls clearly had a civilizing effect on them."[8]
While at Marlborough, Ellis was a member of the Wiltshire County Council Education Committee (1975—1986). In 1983, he was elected as chairman of the Headmasters' Conference and retired from teaching in 1986.[3][9]
Soon after leaving Marlborough, Ellis was appointed by Barclays Bank as its Graduate Recruitment Manager, a role he carried out until 1991.[3]
Voluntary work
editEllis served as a governor of several schools. In 1975 he joined the governing body of Cheam School and later chaired it, from 1987 to 1993; he was also a governor of Campion School, Athens, of Harrow School, where he had been a housemaster in the 1960s, and of St Edward's School, Oxford, where he was chairman from 1992 to 1999.[3]
In his Athleticism in the Victorian and Edwardian Public School (1981), J. A. Mangan thanked Ellis for his help and for opening doors for him.[10]
Personal life and death
editIn 1964, Ellis married Margaret Jean Stevenson, and they had one son and two daughters.[3] His wife was the sister of Dame Anne Griffiths, librarian and archivist to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.[11]
In 1974, Ellis deposited in the Devon County Records Office the Memoirs and Diaries of Henry Ellis of Exeter (1790–1859), jeweller and clockmaker.[12]
Ellis died of heart failure on 14 February 2023, at the age of 93.[13][14]
Honours
edit- 1984 New Year Honours: Commander of the Order of the British Empire[15]
Publication
edit- R. W. Ellis, Who's Who in Victorian Britain 1851–1901 (Stackpole Books, 2001) ISBN 978-0811716406
References
edit- ^ "Roger W Ellis" in England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007, October 1929
- ^ Roger Wykeham ELLIS, company-information.service.gov.uk, accessed 1 February 2023
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Ellis, Roger Wykeham (born 3 Oct. 1929), Master of Marlborough College, 1972–86" in Who's Who (London: A. & C. Black, 2003), p. 658; "ELLIS, Roger Wykeham; Headmaster of Rossall School since Sept. 1967, b. 3 Oct. 1929" in Who's Who 1968 (London: A. & C. Black, 1968), p. 946
- ^ Rutland 48, william1.co.uk, accessed 1 February 2023
- ^ "Dancy, Prof. John Christopher, MA" in Who's Who 2003 (London: A. & C. Black, 2003), p. 522
- ^ "Chapel Notes", The Abingdonian, June 1974, p. 168
- ^ N. W. Wynne-Jones, "Chapel", The Stoic, July 1977, p. 68
- ^ Della Denman, "Britain's Girls Peril 'Old Boy' System", Special to The New York Times, March 16, 1974, accessed 1 February 2023 (subscription required)
- ^ "The Headmasters' Conference" in Joseph Whitaker, An Almanack for the Year of Our Lord 1984 (1984), p. 535
- ^ J. A. Mangan, Athleticism in the Victorian and Edwardian Public School (1981), p. xiii
- ^ "Dame Anne Griffiths: stalwart of the Buckingham Palace staff" (obituary), The Daily Telegraph, 11 March 2017, accessed 1 February 2023 (subscription required): "Another sister, Margaret, is married to R. W. Ellis, formerly Master of Marlborough College."
- ^ Devon County Archivist's Report 1975 (Devon County Council, 1975), p. 23: "Roger Ellis, Esq., of Marlborough College, Wiltshire: Memoirs and Diaries of Henry Ellis of Exeter jeweller and clockmaker (9), 1790–1859"
- ^ Ellis
- ^ "Roger Ellis obituary". The Times. 20 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
- ^ The London Gazette, 30 December 1983 (Supplement 49583), p. 8