Constituency : Eifion 1906-18, Denbigh 1923-9
Ellis took over from John Bryn Roberts who had been appointed a county court judge. He was unopposed as Roberts had been since 1895. Lloyd George opposed his selection describing him as "75% charlatan".
Ellis was the son of a quarry official. He was educated in Bethseda and at Liverpool College. He worked as an insurance clerk until he qualified as a solicitor. He established a practice in Caernarfon. He was a director of several companies and represented the North Wales Quarrymen's Union. Ellis was elected to Caernarfonshire County Council in 1904. He was a Welsh Presbyterian.
Ellis was a radical. He served on a number of parliamentary committees. He was a proponent of social reform, a near socialist and a strong supporter of the land clauses in the People's Budget. He wrote a number of articles for Welsh journals He was scornful of the amount of energuy expended on Welsh Disestablishment which he regarded as of secondary importance at best.
Although they were close neighbours and fellow solicitors, Ellis was never close to Lloyd George. As a pacifist he was strongly against Lloyd George's conduct of the war and paid the price in 1918 coming third behind a Coalition Liberal and an Independent Labour candidate.
Ellis returned to Parliament in 1923 as MP for Denbigh. He stood down in 1929 on health grounds.
In 1934, Ellis joined the Labour party but left it in 1939 over its opposition to appeasement. He became a Liberal National but died shortly afterwards aged 68.
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