Ellerton "Heroes and Villains"

During the course of my research I have come across many items of interest which, although not necessarily connected with my own family tree, were worthy of putting together "just for the sheer hell of it". I would welcome notification of any similar oddments that you might come across that are related to the name of Ellerton.

James Ellerton, aged 18, was transported to the Bahamas on the "Hopewell" (captain: Thomas Wood), either arriving or departing on 17th February 1634. Crime unknown.

John Ellerton fought at the battle of Marston Moor [6 miles NW of York] in 1644 during the English Civil War, and was fined for his adherence to Charles I.
Matthew Ellerton was burnt in the hand for stealing four quarters of mutton ["Country News": Daily Gazetteer, London Edition, 29th July 1738]

Richard Ellerton (b.1705 in Whitby, Yorks.) was the master of several short voyages of the "Friendship" in 1752-1754, with James Cook (later to become internationally famous as Captain Cook for his seafaring adventures) as his "mate".

Simeon Ellerton (1696?-1799) carried messages by foot for the gentry, often completing long distances such as Durham to London. On the return part of his journey he carried large rocks on his head, with which he built a cottage. After many years he found it difficult to walk without any rocks, so he habitually had some balanced on his cranium wherever he went. He was reputedly 104 years old when he died in 1799, but the Leeds PR's record his baptism on 23/8/1702.
John Ellerton [alias Fletcher] - charged with horse-stealing in March 1767. He escaped from Newgate [Newcastle] gaol with two other prisoners but was "apprehended in bed at a small ale-house about ten miles north of Jedburgh" with two other escapees. Does anyone know what became of him? Was he transported?

John Ellerton - a doctor who "ran for a political office" - was convicted, along with his accomplice Thomas Waite, of grand larceny in August 1768. He was sentenced to 14 years and transported to North America [per the Northumberland Record Office].

Edward Ellerton (1771-1851), son of Richard Ellerton of Downholme, Yorkshire, was the Master of Magdelen College, Oxford from 1799. He was the founder of many scholarships and prizes (from the "Dictionary of National Biography"). For details of his lineage, click here.
John Ellerton, aged 20, was convicted at London's Central Criminal Court of stealing a mustard pot, spoons, forks, a cruet stand, a salt cellar, and 2 pence from a George Rooper of Sussex-place, Marylebone in January 1842. He was transported to Australia for a term of 10 years, departing on the Moffatt in August 1842.
Joseph Ellerton was convicted at Stafford Quarter Sessions [crime unknown] and transported to Australia for a term of 14 years, departing on the Equestrian in June 1845. In October 1856 a register of Convict Applications for Permissions to Marry included an entry for "Joseph Ellerton, free; ... Elizabeth Towns, arrived on Duchess of Northumberland": where "free" indicated that a person was not a convict or had become free by the time of the application (the actual records have not survived): did they actually marry?

Thomas Ellerton (born 1828), an "unmarried quarryman and literate Protestant" was convicted at Staffordshire Assizes in 1849 of highway robbery and sentenced for 15 years. He was transported to Western Australia, departing on the Mermaid in December 1850. When his sentence expired in 1864 he was given a Certificate of Freedom in 1869 at Bunbury, Western Australia. What happened to him after that??

John Ellerton (1826-1893). Born at Clerkenwell, Middlesex, he graduated from Trinity College and entered the ministry in 1850. He served as a vicar in Brighton and in Cheshire, and is renowned for writing/translating over 80 hymns. He died in Torquay, Devon, where he was buried. See www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/e/jellerto.htm for full details and his lineage (the "George 1714 Tree").
Thomas Ellerton, "alias Elliott, late of Duke Street, London", was involved with four others in "The Great Turf Swindle" of 1876. They were charged with obtaining Ł10,000 by fraudulent conspiracy involving horses.

Frank Ellerton who, according to a witness had some knowledge of the murder of a young girl at Williams, Michigan (USA), was himself killed by a Hank Rowe in February 1878.
Edward Ellerton was found guilty of burglary at London's Central Criminal Court in March 1892 and was given "12 months' hard labour". He also pleaded guilt to a conviction of felony in May 1889.

In August 1918 the Daily News reported a "curious lift accident". A George Corrall, employed by Dent the Booksellers, was trapped by an ascending lift. He "called to a man named Ellerton" to help, but the latter pressed the wrong button and Corrall was crushed more severely and subsequently died of his injuries.
The London Gazette reported the award of a Military Medal in June 1945 to Thomas Henry Ellerton: "During the attack on Air HQ, Greece ... Corporal Ellerton and Leading Aircraftsman Arthur Oliver, who are nursing orderlies ... dragged to safety two Sergeants who were lying wounded in the open".
In November 1977 Stephen Ellerton, a Coldstream Guardsman from Bradford, was convicted along with another soldier of the murder of a man near Eton.
In 1986 Anna Ellerton died in the USA aged 106 - and possibly holds the record for longevity for anyone bearing the family name.

Andrew Ellerton of Leeds, aged 38, was jailed for 4˝ years for throwing a bottle during the Bradford riots in 2001.

and finally - Henry Jenkins, purportedly the oldest ever Englishman, died at the ripe old age of 169 years in Ellerton upon Swale, North Yorkshire, in 1670. However, the Guinness Book of Records does not recognise this as a "record" as it cannot be properly substantiated.

Page last updated: August 2008