Richard Ellis JP (November 1820 – 21 August 1895) was an English builder, property developer, alderman, mayor, and a public benefactor to his town.

Ellis was a benefactor to Ashville College and Harrogate Royal Infirmary, and paid for the town's Jubilee Memorial and the land on which it stands.

His parents survived, living locally, until he was 51 years old, and his father shared his name; thus he was known as "Richard Ellis junior" for most of his working life.

[5][6][7] By 1871, Richard Ellis senior had retired and was living in Albert Terrace with his wife Ann,[1][8] who died in Harrogate aged 80 on 12 February 1872.

At that time he was a master cabinetmaker employing 15 men, and was lodging with a contingent of Yorkshire artists, including Thomas Holroyd.

[18] The 1891 Census finds the couple at Southfield House, where Mary Jane has a companion and nurse, and Ellis is still practising as a West Riding magistrate at the age of 70 years.

[11][20]: 633–635 "Ellis himself made the wooden display cabinet for the town's mineral waters shown at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1851".

[21][20]: 53  The piece was described in the Leeds Intelligencer as follows:[22] From Harrogate – Richard Ellis jun., a mahogany case, French polished, divided into compartments, to hold vases (containing the celebrated local waters), elaborately carved, and surmounted with a representation of the Royal Pump Room.

[2] The former mansion, Belvedere, Victoria Avenue, in Harrogate, was built by Ellis around 1861 for John Smith, as a retirement residence.

[11] He "played a key role" in persuading the Duchy of Lancaster, which owned The Stray, to exchange land in order to permit the building of a new replacement railway line.

[2] In this matter, Ellis was "one of the pioneers of Harrogate's prosperity",[11] and a promoter of "long term investment in the town's infrastructure".

[11][nb 6] It was Ellis who provided and personally paid for the trees, verges and roundabouts which still exist in Victoria Avenue.

[2][4] His last major public action was "to support and encourage the building of the Royal Baths" so as to raise the town's social position as a spa – although he did not live to see it opened.

[11] Ellis donated to the town the robes of office for its aldermen and councillors in 1884, and the mayoress's chain in 1902, "to demonstrate that the decorative embellishments of incorporation need not be at public expense".

As a board member, he promoted the improvement of "long-term investment in the town's infrastructure" and the development of Harrogate's spa.

A long procession carried "wreaths and floral trubutes ... very numerous and of an exquisite description", in dedicated carriages, between houses and shops with blinds respectfully drawn.

[25] At Grove Road Cemetery the funeral procession for Ellis was met by "a vast concourse of spectators", and the burial rite was performed by three ministers.

Historian Malcolm Neesam said, "Even in an age notable for the number of public benefactors, Ellis' devotion to Harrogate must be classed as outstanding".

[2] Unusually for a working-class, self-made man in that time and place, Ellis had social skills which were noticed: "[Ellis] was greatly respected alike as citizen and magistrate, and also for his shrewd character, great experience, and judicious advice ... His many ... acts will long remain in the memory of the people of Harrogate, for which town he had done so much".

[11] It is possible that the driving force, behind the dedication to the town of Ellis and his wife, was that they had no children for whom to build up their business for the family future.

Solicitor Edwin Raworth said that Ellis was a "man whose generosity was such a powerful factor for good", and that his wife Mary Jane was, "an amiable lady who did everything she could to help her husband in his endeavours".

Even in his later days, when it often happened that men became more timid, they always found him to the very fore in urging on a bold, progressive policy for the borough of Harrogate ...