CRIMEAN VETERAN

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 28 November 1927, Page 5

CRIMEAN VETERAN

DEATH AT GORE. PASSING OF SAMUEL ELLIS. At the ripe age of 98 years, an old warrior in the person of Samuel Ellis passed away at. the Gore Hospital on Wednesday morning. With him has gone what was probably the last link in New Zealand with the Crimean War. Samuel Ellis was born in the Isle of Man. and while still a boy he joined the navy. He then commenced a career that held a sufficiency of adventure to satisfy the most daring spirit. With the Naval Brigade under Sir Charles Napier, the deceased was present at the historic scaling of the Heights of Alma on September 20, 1854. He was also present at the taking of Odessa and of Sebastopol. At the memorable charge of Cardigan’s Light Horse at Balaclava, the late Mr Ellis stood by with the Naval Brigade and saw the epic fight against well-nigh impossible odds. When the Crimean War finished the Naval Brigade was taken to India in the frigate Shannon, and participated in the events of the Indian Mutiny, Ellis being among those who marched with Sir Colin Campbell to the relief of Lucknow. During tin Mutiny he also took part in the taking of Kharraputra, and he was in several other clashes with the rebellious natives.

After the Indian Mutiny, Ellis went with the Naval Brigade to China with the 18th Royal Irish and the Scots Fusiliers, Admiral Sir John Hope being in charge, this officer later dying of wounds. The Naval Brigade was in front of Pekin and sorely pressed, almost to the point of surrender, when the timely arrival of General Gordon with the Royal Scots. Scots Fusiliers, Connaught Rangers, and the 18th Royal Irish averted disaster. After service in China Ellis went to the West Indies station, and during the American Civil War the ship to which he was attached was guarding British' interests on the Mississippi. While on the West Indies station Ellis was sent with a landing party to Quebec, where the Fenians were giving trouble, and in that campaign the brigade was called upon to face a new kind of warfare, the Fenians pouring boiling water over the men as they passed through the streets. A second rising of the Fenians was quelled by a display of force, as Britain, expecting war with America. had many ships of the line and <O,OOO troops in the vicinity. A period of service at Malta followed the West Indies, and then the Naval Brigade was sent to Mexico, where Ellis was one of the party that escorted the ill-fated Maxmillian to his castle.

The call to duty in Mexico having been satisfactorily completed. Ellis returned with his ship to the Home station, and during the FrancoPrussian War he went to Havre m a 40-ton frigate loaded down with supplies for the starving populace. Samuel Ellis later saw service off Gibraltar and in the Dardanelles, and while at Malta an epileptic fit was the cause of his discharge from the navy.

Some time in the ’seventies Ellis came to New Zealand, after having served in the navv for upwards of 30 vears. He knocked nut the country for a period, and then settled at Ferndale, where he lived on his own for 40 vears. Until a few years ngo he undertook rabbiting work for a living.

Ellis enjoyed fairlv good health until nnite recently, but last week he eollansed. and after lying in his hut for three davs he was brought down to <i,o Gore Hospital. The deceased was on Friday accorded a funeral with military honours.—(Otago Daily Times).