Melicent Jane Ellis OBE born Melicent Jane Ayscough known as M. Jean Ellis (March 23, 1887 – July 6, 1974) was the Australian co-founder of the Penguin Club which encouraged women to speak publicly with confidence.
She married the historian and writer Malcolm Henry Ellis in 1914 in the Anglican St Luke's Church in Brisbane.
[1] The Penguin Club was still young when the country was at war, but Ellis still managed to visit different branches in different states.
At the meeting were members of Rostrum which was a similar (and older) group that assisted men who wanted to speak better in public.
On the centenary of her birth and fifty years after the Penguin Club was formed, Untamed by Time was published which includes accounts of her by her admirers.
[3] The organisation she created was renamed "Speaking Made Easy" and it encourages membership irrespective of gender.