Raynal Lucas Sordes Ellis

Civilian Life - Raynal Ellis was born in Longsight, Manchester, in 1896 and was raised in a family headed by Charles Sordes Ellis, a works chemist and chemical buyer, and Evelyn Ann Ellis. By 1911 the family was living at 24 Station Road, Wealdstone, and Raynal was the eldest of three children, with two younger sisters, Muriel and Winnifred. He attended the John Lyon School, becoming one of its Old Lyonians.

Although little survives about his everyday life, contemporary newspaper records provide several glimpses of his interests and abilities. In 1908 he took part in a local cricket match connected with a fête at Wembley Park. He is recorded as the match scorer but the newspaper also noted that the fielding of "Woodbridge, Sands and Ellis was good," showing that he contributed both on and off the field. He was playing alongside fellow Old Lyonian, Woodbridge.

Another record from October 1914 shows that Ellis passed a Pitman's shorthand speed examination at 70 words per minute, demonstrating proficiency in a valuable commercial skill of the period.

Military Life - Following the outbreak of the First World War, Raynal enlisted in the 5th Battalion, Wiltshire Regiment in September 1914. After approximately nine months of training in Britain, he was sent to the Mediterranean and landed at Cape Helles during the Gallipoli Campaign.

During the campaign he contracted dysentery and was evacuated to Lemnos, the Greek island that served as an important Allied hospital and logistics base for the Gallipoli operations. After recovering, he was attached to colonial troops serving at Anzac Cove. Letters sent home described the strenuous nature of the work, and his final letter, dated 13 September 1915, was reported by his family to have been cheerful.

Raynal Lucas Sordes Ellis died of dysentery on 20 September 1915, just after his nineteenth birthday. He is buried in East Mudros Military Cemetery on Lemnos, Greece, and is commemorated by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and on memorials at the John Lyon School and St Mark's Church, Northfleet. At 6 feet 4 inches, his obituary described him as the tallest man in the Wiltshire Regiment.