He was born in Clerkenwell, Middlesex, England, to George Ellerton, the head of an evangelical family.

He became chairman of the education committee at the Mechanics Institute for the local Railway Company.

The work among a large population broke him down and he had to go abroad for a year, serving as chaplain at Pegli in Italy from 1884 to 1885.

[2] During his final illness, he was given the honorary title of Canon of St. Albans Cathedral.

He was co-editor with William Walsham How and others of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) Church Hymns, 1871.