Stanley Venn Ellis

Ellis was the son of a clergyman Reverend Henry Venn Ellis, rector of Alderton, Suffolk and a descendant of the Ellis family of Kiddal Hall (an old Yorkshire gentry family from which the Earls of Normanton and Viscounts Clifden, as well as the supposed inventor of Rugby William Webb Ellis and Sir William Ellis Secretary of State in exile to James II of England also descended from).^[1] The Ellis family had a history of naval service and Venn Ellis's 4× great-granduncle William Ellis had also served as a captain in the Royal Navy.^[2] His brother Sherman Gordon Venn Ellis CIE, DSO was a lieutenant colonel in the British Indian Army.

Ellis joined HMS Britannia as a cadet in 1889.^[3] On 22 June 1893, whilst serving on board the battleship HMS Nile, commanded by Captain Gerard Noel, he witnessed the collision and sinking of the flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet HMS Victoria, which caused the deaths of 358 crew including Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon. The crew of the Nile managed to rescue 80 shipwrecked Victoria survivors. He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 October 1897.^[4] In 1900 whilst serving in Canada, he married Katheleen Beaven, daughter of Robert Beaven, Premier of British Columbia.^[5] Ellis was given command of the torpedo boat HMS Foam on 24 March 1902 and later that year took command of the HMS Stag on 1 November. From 3 January 1905 to 1 January 1906 he was captain of the destroyer HMS Dasher, and from 1 January 1906 to 28 May of that year the destroyer HMS Roebuck. From 28 May 1906^[6] to 10 September 1909 he was captain of the destroyer HMS Ness. Whilst in command of the Ness he escorted King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra as they travelled on the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert to Reval to meet Tsar Nicholas II on a state visit (9–11 June 1908)^[7] for which he was awarded a knighthood of the Imperial Order of Saint Stanislaus. The following year on 30 June 1909 he was promoted to the rank of commander^[8] and served on HMS Achilles, HMS Swiftsure, HMS Inflexible, HMS Albermale and in 1914 at the outbreak of the First World War he was transferred to the battleship HMS Monarch. Ellis was promoted to captain on 1 January 1916 and given command of the armoured cruiser HMS Defence,^[9] the flagship of Sir Robert Arbuthnot's 1st Cruiser Squadron. The vessels which made up Arbuthnot's squadron were considered to be of an outdated type.