The Lord Mendip | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of Mendip byAnton Hickel | |
| Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
| In office February 1782 – 8 March 1782 | |
| Monarch | George III |
| Prime Minister | Lord North |
| Preceded by | Lord George Germain |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1713-12-15)15 December 1713 England |
| Died | 2 February 1802(1802-02-02) (aged 88) England |
Welbore Ellis, 1st Baron Mendip,PC,FRS (15 December 1713 – 2 February 1802) was a British politician who representedCricklade,Weymouth and Melcombe Regis,Aylesbury and Petersfield in theHouse of Commons of Great Britain from 1741 to 1794 when he was raised to thepeerage asBaron Mendip. He held a number of political offices, including briefly serving asSecretary for the Colonies in 1782 during theAmerican War of Independence.
Ellis was the second but only surviving son of the Most ReverendWelbore Ellis,Bishop of Kildare andBishop of Meath. He was educated atWestminster School from 1727 to 1732 and then enteredChrist Church, Oxford.
In 1741, he was electedMember of Parliament (MP) forCricklade, then moved toWeymouth and Melcombe Regis (1747–1761),Aylesbury (1761–1768),Petersfield (1768–1774), Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (1774–1790) and Petersfield (1791–1794).[1]
In 1762, he succeededCharles Townshend asSecretary at War, and in 1763, he proposed the appropriation of twenty armyregiments to thecolonies of America. InParliament, with many others, he opposed the reception of papers from the AmericanContinental Congress. He becameTreasurer of the Navy in 1777, then succeeded to theColonial Secretaryship in 1782, which he held for a matter of months, before the American colonies were lost. In 1784, he became the longest-serving member of theHouse of Commons (having served for 43 years non-continuously), becoming the honoraryFather of the House.
He was createdBaron Mendip, of Mendip in the County of Somerset, in 1794 in recognition of his governmental service. The peerage was created with remainder to the three eldest sons of his sister Anne by her husband Henry Agar, ofGowran andGowran Castle.
_-_Wellbore_Ellis_(1713%25E2%2580%25931802)%2c_1st_Baron_Mendip%2c_Statesman_-_PG_3576_-_National_Galleries_of_Scotland.jpg)
In 1738 he inherited a large fortune from his uncle,John Ellis and built Clifden House in Brentford.
He married firstly in 1747 Elizabeth, the daughter and heiress ofSir William Stanhope and secondly in 1765 Anne, the daughter of George Stanley of Paultons, Hampshire. Ellis nevertheless died childless in February 1802, aged 88, and was succeeded in the barony according to the special remainder by his great-nephew,Henry Welbore Agar, 2nd Viscount Clifden, who assumed the surname of Ellis two years later.
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