Sophia Hull

Sir Stamford Raffles had previously been married in 1804 to Olivia Mariamne Devenish, a widow who was ten years older than him.

[4]: 57, 73, 107  Olivia had died in West Java, Dutch East Indies, in 1814; his grief at her death was such that he erected a memorial to her which still stands at the Taman Prasasti Museum, a former cemetery, in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Sophia had five children by Sir Stamford Raffles, two sons and three daughters: Her first child Charlotte was born on board ship during the voyage to Sumatra, Indonesia, made by the couple soon after their marriage.

In 1825, Sir Stamford and Lady Raffles also returned to Britain; the seaward journey took nearly a year, having lost many of their possessions in a fire on board East Indiaman ship Fame, which they barely escaped with their lives; both were in poor health on board the ship Mariner by the time they arrived.

[6] After her husband's death on 5 July 1826, Lady Raffles found she was in debt to the East India Company (EIC).

Ella met John when her mother Sophia spent time recuperating from illness at the bishop's home in Winchester.

Miniature portrait of Sir Stamford Raffles, by Alfred Edward Chalon, c. 1817
As probably seen by Sophia Raffles, a lithographic print of a view of early Singapore , looking seaward from The Hill ( Fort Canning Hill ) showing the area between Freshwater Stream ( Sungei Bras Basah ) and Singapore River . The view is likely to have been drawn a few years before 1830, when it was published in Sophia, Lady Raffles' Memoir of the life and public services of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles .
Sophia Raffles' grave at St Paul's Church , Mill Hill , Barnet , England.