Quidam,' says that the chief competitors for his inheritance were 'Horace,' that is Horatio Walpole, who wrote a Latin ode in Ellys's honour and gave him his portrait, and Hampden, that is Richard Hampden, who had married Ellys's sister. On the death of Ellys (21 Feb. 1742) it was found that his estates were entailed on his second wife, and after her death or marriage on the families of Hobart and Trevor, in to whose possession they ultimately passed. His cousin, William Strode of Barnington, Somersetshire, was heir-at-law and contested the will in the court of chancery, but without effect. Ellys's splendid library was removed from Nocton to Blickling, Norfolk, then a seat of the Hobarts and now the property of the Marquis of Lothian.
[Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. vi. 183 (contributed by Professor J. E. B. Mayor), x. 128, 156; Gent. Mag. 1812, pt. ii. p. 447, 1813, pt. i. p. 29; Bogue and Bennet's Hist. of Dissenters, iv. 6; Collins's Baronetage, as above; Burke's Extinct Baronetage, p. 181; Chalmers's Biog. Dict. sub voc.; Memoirs of Life of Thomas Boston, by himself, pp. 46, 487 (the appendix contains several letters passing between Ellys and Boston); Nichols's Lit. Anecd. vi. 13, 138.]
ELMER. [See Ethelmaer.]
ELMER, JOHN. [See Aylmer, John, (1521–1594), bishop of London.]
ELMER, STEPHEN (d. 1796), painter, resided at Farnham in Surrey, where he was a maltster. He turned his hand to painting, and developed a special power in depicting still life and dead game, and was perhaps the most successful painter in this line that England has produced. He was a member of the Free Society of Artists in 1763, and exhibited numerous pictures up to 1772, when he first began to exhibit at the Royal Academy, of which he was elected an associate in that year. From that time to 1795, the year before his death, he contributed a great number of pictures, which were very popular, and were painted in a bold, free manner, and with great truth to nature. He did not confine himself entirely to still life, but occasionally painted genre pictures, such as 'The Miser' (engraved by B. Granger), 'The Politician' (engraved by T. Ryder), scripture pieces, such as 'The Last Supper,' formerly over the altar, but now in the vestry of Farnham Church, and portraits. Some of his still-life pictures were engraved by J. Scott, J. F. Miller, C. Turner, and others. Elmer died and was buried at Farnham in 1790. He does not appear to have been married, but left his property, including a large collection of his own paintings, to his nephew. The latter were collected, and exhibited at the great room in the Haymarket in the spring of 1799, under the title of 'Elmer's Sportsman's Exhibition.' Some of these were disposed of for good prices, and the remainder were removed to Gerrard Street, Soho, where they were accidentally destroyed by fire on 6 Feb. 1801.
William Elmer, usually called the son of the above, but more probably his nephew, was a painter of the same class of subject. He practised in Ireland, and occasionally exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1783 and 1799. There is a small mezzotint portrait of him as a schoolboy, dated 26 June 1772, and engraved by Butler Clowes [q.v.]
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Edwards's Anecdotes of Painting; Sandby's Hist. of the Royal Academy; Royal Academy Catalogues; information from the Rev. Canon Philip Hoste.]
ELMES, HARVEY LONSDALE (1813–1847), architect, was the son and pupil of James Elmes [q.v.] In 1836 a competition was advertised for designs for the erection of St. Georce's Hall in Liverpool. Elmes, though quite young, was advised by his friend, B. R. Haydon, to compete, and was successful among eighty-five other candidates. This success was followed up by the acceptance of his designs for the assize courts and the Collegiate Institution in the same town, and the county lunatic asylum at West Derby. St. George's Hall was commenced in 1838, and in 1846 the prince consort, on his visit to Liverpool, was so pleased with it that he presented Elmes with a gold medal. Elmes died of consumption in Jamaica on 26 Nov. 1847, aged 34, leaving a widow and child. A subscription of 1,400l. was raised for them. The completion of St. George's Hall was entrusted to C. R. Cockerell, R.A. [q. v.], who expressed his admiration of the work. Elmes exhibited some of his architectural drawings at the Royal Academy.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760-1880; Builder, 3 Jan. and 5 Feb. 1848.]
ELMES, JAMES (1782–1862), architect and antiquary, son of Samuel Elmes, was born in London 15 Oct. 1782, admitted into Merchant Taylors' School in April 1796, and subsequently became a pupil of George Gibson, and a student of the Royal Academy, where he gained the silver medal for an architectural design in 1804. Between 1808 and 1814 he exhibited designs at the Royal Academy, was vice-president of the Royal Architectural Society in 1809, and surveyor of the port of London — posts which loss of
