482
with numerous learned societies, notably being a fellow
of the Royal Society, the Society of Antiquaries and
College of Preceptors. He was awarded an honorary
doctorate by Cambridge University four months before
his death, which occurred on 28 October 1890. None of
his obituaries mentions his daguerreotypes.
See also: Daguerre, Louis-Jacques-Mandé; and
Lemercier, Lerebours & Bareswill.Further Reading
Becchetti, Piero, and Carlo Pietrangeli, Roma in Dagherrotipia
[Rome in Daguerreotypes], Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 1979.
Ellis, Alexander, Unpublished notes, fi le 1890-56, National Mu-
seum of Photography, Film and Television, Bradford.
Gernsheim, Helmut, The Origins of Photography, London:
Thames and Hudson, 1982.
MacMahon, M. K. C., “Ellis, Alexander John,” in Matthew, H. C.
G. and Brian Harrison, (eds.) Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography, Vol. 18, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2004,
208–11.Taylor, Roger, “Early Daguerreotypes of Italy,” in Cossons, Neil,
Making of the Modern World, London: John Murray/Science
Museum, 1992.
Thomas, D. B., “Early English Daguerreotypes,” Photography,
July 1962, 36–9.ELLIS, WILLIAM (1794–1872)
English missionary, botanist, and photographer
The Reverend William Ellis originally embarked on a
career as a gardener before his ordination at the age of
twenty-one. He became a missionary, in Africa and in
the South Pacifi c, eventually becoming the Chief For-
eign Secretary of the London Missionary Society.
By the late 1820s he was publishing accounts of his
missionary activities and travels—notably in 1826 a
book on his experiences in Hawaii—but he was in his
late fi fties before his fi rst encounter with photography,
learning the skills of the art in preparation for a series of
journeys to Madagascar between 1853 and 1856—ac-ELLIS, ALEXANDER JOHN
Ellis, Reverend William. Portrait of
Black Couple.
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los
Angeles © The J. Paul Getty Museum.Hannavy_RT72353_C005.indd 482 7/5/2007 11:18:14 AM