Alexander Ellice (1743–1805) was a Scottish merchant, landowner and lawyer who made his fortune in the North American fur trade.
[1] He was born in Auchterless, Scotland, the eldest of five sons of a successful miller, also named Alexander Ellice, and was baptised on 28 May 1743.
The next year, he entered into a partnership to engage in fur trading and general merchandising in upstate New York and the lower Great Lakes region.
The committee of correspondence in Schenectady subsequently reprimanded Ellice for trying to sneak goods in by way of Montreal.
He retired in 1802 due to poor health, though in 1804 he and his son Edward attempted to buy controlling interest in the Hudson's Bay Company for £103,000.