The second son of Henry Ellison, of Hebburn, County Durham, and Henrietta, daughter of John Isaacson,[1] he joined the 1st Regiment of Foot Guards as an ensign by purchase on 17 December 1807.

At the latter battle he fought with the light companies at Hougoumont where "on one occasion, when he was forced to retreat from the orchard to the chateau, he would have been bayoneted by the French, had not the men, with whom he was a great favourite, charged back, and saved his life.

Subsequently, he became a lieutenant-colonel on 15 April 1824 and a major and colonel on 9 January 1838[3] Ellison's profuse growth of dark facial hair earned him the regimental sobriquet "Black Bob".

[5] At quarter to nine on the morning of 3 June 1843, Ellison as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, was on field duty in Hyde Park where a band was playing and the regimental colours flying.

Despite the efforts of a surgeon present, twenty minutes later Ellison was dead and his body conveyed to his house in Norfolk Street, Park Lane.