Martin Beazor Ellis (14 September 1911, Guernsey – 8 June 1996) was a British mycologist, known as a leading expert on the taxonomy of pigmented hyphomycetes.
[3][4] The Ellis family originated in Great Yarmouth, relocated to Guernsey, and returned to England to settle in 1920 in Gorleston-on-Sea.
After a year at Chelsea Polytechnic, where he worked as a botanical researcher, demonstrator, lecturer, and private academic coach, he enlisted in October 1939 in the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC).
[5][6] At the institute, Ellis worked with Edmund William Mason (1890–1975), Stanley John Hughes (1918–2019), and Guy Richard Bisby (1889–1958).
[2] In Chatham, Kent, in September 1948, Martin B. Ellis married Janet Pamela "Pam" Morgan.
They spent their honeymoon collecting fungi on the island of Guernsey and the results of their research was published in Report and Transaction of la Société Guernesiaise.
[8][9] In retirement, Martin and Pam Ellis moved to Southwold in Suffolk, where they began collecting, describing and illustrating microfungi, especially from East Anglia.
The three books were extremely useful for amateur mycologists in the UK and led to a huge increase in the number of species of fungi newly recorded in Suffolk.
[11] Martin Ellis communicated his enthusiasm for the study of fungi and appreciation of nature to many mycologists and gained wide esteem.