Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Ellis, Welbore (1651?-1734)
ELLIS, WELBORE (1651?–1734), bishop of Meath and a privy councillor in Ireland, descended from an ancient family at Kiddall Hall, Yorkshire, was the fourth son of the Rev. John Ellis (1606?–1681) [q. v.], rector of Waddesdon, and author of ‘Vindiciæ Catholicæ.’ His brothers John and William are separately noticed. He was educated at Westminster School and at Christ Church, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. in 1684, M.A. 1687, and B.D. and D.D. by diploma 1697. He likewise received in 1732 the ad eundem degree of D.D. from Trinity College, Dublin. His three brothers, Sir William (1642?–1730), John (1645–1738), and Philip (1653–1726), are separately noticed. Welbore Ellis became a prebendary of Winchester in 1696. He was promoted in 1705, by patent dated 22 Sept., to the bishopric of Kildare, with the deanery of Christ Church, Dublin, in commendam, and was translated, 13 March 1731, to the premier bishopric of Meath, with a seat in the Irish privy council. He married Diana, daughter of Sir John Briscoe, knt., of Boughton, Northamptonshire, and Amberley Castle, Sussex, and had, with other issue, Welbore, afterwards Lord Mendip [q. v.]. He died on 1 Jan. 1733–4, and was buried with great ceremony in the cathedral of Christ Church, Dublin, where a monument was ‘erected by his only surviving son, the Right Hon. Welbore Ellis.’ The funeral procession included the boys of the Bluecoat Hospital, to which he had bequeathed 100l. (Cooper MS., quoted by Bishop Mant). A portrait of Ellis is preserved in the hall of Christ Church, Oxford. His publications are: 1. ‘The Dean of Dublin, Plaintiff, Archbishop of Dublin, Defendant, upon a Writ of Error—the Defendant's Case,’ London, 1724. 2. ‘The Lord Bishop of Kildare, Dean of the Church of the Holy Trinity of Dublin, Plaintiff in Error. The Lord Archbishop of Dublin Defendant in Error. The Plaintiff in Error's Case,’ London, 1724.
[The Ellis Correspondence; Alumni Westmonast. 189–90; Wood's Athenæ (Bliss), iii. 711; Catalogue of Oxford Graduates; Sir James Ware's Works, ed. Harris, i. 164, 396; Cotton's Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ, ii. 45, 234, iii. 122, v. 90, 143; Bishop Mant's History of the Church of Ireland, ii. 175, 528.]