Rt. Hon. Edward Ellice

Merchant and politician, awarded compensation as a partner in Ellice Kinnear, including as mortgagee of the Richmond estate in Grenada, and as executor of Alex. McGregor in Tobago, and also appearing in a number of claims (but not as awardee) as a former partner in Inglis Ellice (q.v), which was a major slave-owning and mortgagee firm before its collapse in 1823. MP for Coventry 1818-1826 and 1830-1863: his detailed entry in the History of Parliament says of him he was 'his father’s business heir and a successful trader to the North Americas, Canada and the West Indies, where his failure to sell out in time eventually cost him £70,000.'

1. Third son of Alexander Ellice [Rubinstein 1811/2, but d. 1805] who was founder of Phyn Ellice and left £175,000, and himself a wealth-holder. Edward Ellice was an American & West Indies merchant (Ellice Kinnear 143 Leadenhall St.). Educated Winchester and Marischal College Aberdeen (MA 1800). Left £160,000.

2. Edward Ellice retired from Inglis Ellice on 30/04/1821: his withdrawal was contested by a creditor of Inglis Ellice (which had subsequently collapsed) in David v Ellice in 1826.

3. First wife, Hannah, was the daughter of the 1st Earl Grey. (Their son, Edward (1810-1880), was MP for St Andrews burghs 1837-1880.) (Hannah died 28 July 1832.) By marriage Ellice became brother-in-law of Charles Grey (later the 2nd Earl) and thus at centre of the Whig elites: elected to Brooks's 1809. He became an important figure in the Whig party - as joint secretary to the Treasury and government whip (1830), Secretary at War (1833-34) but above all as political manager - in organising honours and the purchase of seats, as éminence grise in the 1830s, and subsequently as a political meddler. He also served on the Roebuck committee of inquiry into the conduct of the Crimean War (1855). His marital associations with the Whig elites also extended when he married (25 October 1843) Lady Anne Amelia, née Keppel, widow of Thomas William Coke, first earl of Leicester, and daughter of the fourth earl of Albemarle. However, she died 22 July 1844. Played a key role in effecting the union in Canada of the North-West Company and the Hudson's Bay Company in 1821; towards the end of his life in 1863, and amid considerable controversy, he sold his interest at a great profit to the International Finance Society.

4. The son of Ellice and Hannah Grey, Edward junior, was also an MP - for St Andrews District of Burghs 1837-1880. On the Whig side of the Liberal Party he was opposed to too radical a parliamentary reform measure. As a Scottish landowner he advocated clearances though tempered by proper emigration schemes and opposed compulsory evictions.

5. Although the younger Edward was deputy governor of the Hudson's Bay Company in in 1858, he 'had slight contact with North American affairs in later life'. The Ellice connection with North America ended in 1867.

T71/880 Grenada claim nos. 439 (Annandale Estate), 440 (Annandale Estate) and 758A&B; T71/891 Tobago claim no. 15; http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/ellice-edward-1783-1863 [accessed 31/01/2018].

1. William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? 1860- (Volumes 3 and 4, manuscripts in preparation), reference 1864/24.

2. The Law Journal for the Year 1826, comprising cases in the Courts of Chancery, King's Bench and Common Pleas from Michaelmas Term 1825 to Trinity Term 1826 both inclusive (London, 1826), pp. 125-130.

3. Entry by Gordon F. Millar in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. [Millar incorrectly refers to Inglis, Ellice, & Co rather than Phyn Ellice.] See also: J. C. Clarke, ‘The fortunes of the Ellice family: from business to politics, 1760-1860’ (Oxford D.Phil., 1973); R. H. Fleming, 'Phyn, Ellice and Company of Schenectady', Contributions to Canadian Economics, 4 (1932), pp. 7-41; entries by James M. Colthart for Alexander Ellice in Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online (Toronto, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 1959-; http://www.biographi.ca/index-e.html), vol. V, 1801-1820 and for Edward Ellice, vol. IX, 1861-1870. [The best short survey.]

4. Jonathan Spain, ‘Ellice, Edward (1810–1880)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2006, accessed 1 Dec 2012.

5. Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.