Sgt 22782 Ellis Molyneux

• Age: 30
• From: Liverpool
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 20th Btn
• K.I.A Friday 20th October 1916
• Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
  Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.

Ellis Molyneux was born on the 20^th August, 1886, in Liverpool and was the son of Ellis  Molyneux and his wife Mary Hannah (nee Handford). His parents were both born at Liverpool and were married at St Mary's C.of E. Church, Walton, in 1874. He was educated at St Lawrence's Church of England School, Croylands Street, Kirkdale.    

He was one of eleven children, four of whom had died by 1911. His known siblings were George (born 1875), Richard (1878-1882), Eliza (born 1880), Mary Hannah (born 1882), Elizabeth Alice (born 1884), Margaret Ellen (born 1889), Joseph Handford (born 1891), Thomas (born 1893) and Catherine (born 1896).   

Ellis Molyneux senior was working as a kiln tenter in 1881 and by 1891 his occupation was a caretaker, subsequently in 1911 he had become a school caretaker.

The 1881 Census shows the family were sharing a house at 48 Sessions Road with Mary Hannah's family, the Handfords. Her father was from Leicestershire and her mother was born in the Isle of Man.

In 1891 their home was at 11 Croylands Street, Kirkdale. Ellis is four years of age. His father Ellis senior is 38 years of age, a caretaker born in Walton, Liverpool, whilst his mother Mary Hannah is 37 years of age, born in Liverpool. Ellis' siblings in the household are listed as: George aged 15 and an apprentice plumber, Mary Hannah aged 9, Elizabeth Alice aged 7, Margaret Ellen is aged 2 and Joseph is aged 2 months. Also present are; Elizabeth Wilson (neice), William Griffiths lodger and a servant Margaret Shackleton    

At the time of the 1901 Census the family had moved to the house next door, 9 Croylands Street. Ellis junior, is aged fourteen, and  working as a solicitor's office boy. He lives with his parents and six siblings who are listed as Mary Hannah 19, Elizabeth Alice 17, Margaret 12, Joseph Handford 10, Thomas aged 8 and Catherine aged 5. 

The family are again found at 9 Croylands Street in 1911.  Ellis is 24 years of age and is recorded as a packer at a ship's stores. He lives with his parents who advised that they had been married for 36 years and had eleven children of whom seven had survived. Ellis' siblings recorded in the household are Mary Hannah 29, Elizabeth Alice 27, Margaret Ellen 22, Joseph Handford 20 and Catherine 15.

Ellis enlisted on the 09th November 1914 at Liverpool joining the 20th Battalion of THe King's Liverpool Regiment as Private 22782. He was aged 28 years and 20 days and gave his occupation as a Clerk. He was described as being five foot six and a half inches tall, weighed 145 lbs, had a sallow complexion, grey eyes and dark brown hair. he stated that his religion was Church of England. His next of kin was his mother, Mary Hannah.

Formed in November 1914 the 20^th Battalion were originally billeted at Tournament Hall, Knotty Ash before on 29^th January 1915 they moved to the hutted accommodation purposely built at Lord Derby’s estate at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 20th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. He arrived in France on 07^th November 1915.

His service record survives and shows that Ellis was appointed an unpaid Lance Corporal on the 14th May, 1915 while based at Belton Park, Grantham. Almost immediately upon reaching France he was appointed as a paid Lance Corporal on the 08th November 1915. He spent a few days in hospital in January 1916 and in March 1916 he was attached to 208 Field Company Royal Engineers for a week. In May he was admitted to No. 96 Field Ambulance with Influenza.
  
His mother died at Croyland Street on the 05th June 1916. As she was in receipt of an army allowance as her son's dependent, which would have ceased on her death, a copy of her death certificate is included in Ellis' service records. 

On the 17th June 1916 he was granted home leave, presumably as a consequence of his mother's death. Whilst in Liverpool he obtained a medical certificate which allowed him to extend his leave until the 5th July, thus missing the start of the Battle of the Somme. In his absence he was made a full Corporal on the 27th June 1916 and, after his return to France, he was promoted to Sergeant on the 30th July 1916.

He was serving in the 20th Battalion, The King’s Liverpool Regiment as Sergeant No 22782 when he was killed in action on the 20th October 1916 during the Battle of the Transloy Ridges which was part of the ongoing Somme Offensive.

A report on his death appeared in the Bootle Times on the 24th November 1916:

Local Casualties

Sergeant Ellis Molyneux, K.L.R., son of Mr. molyneux, of 9, Croylands-Street, Kirkdale, has been killed in action. He was 30 years old.  

Ellis' body was not recovered or was subsequently lost as he has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme in France.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.

On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”

Soldiers Effects to father Ellis, Pensions for Ellis and brother Joseph H. to sister Mary H.

His family paid tribute to Ellis a year after his death in the Liverpool Echo on 13th November 1917

MOLYNEUX - In sad but proud remembrance of J. H. Molyneux, killed in action, November 13, 1916. Also Ellis, brother of the above, killed in action, October 20, 1916.

They heard the call

And for the land they loved

They gave their all.

- From all at home, 9 Croylands Street, Kirkdale.

Ellis is also commemorated on St Lawrence’s Church of England School, Kirkdale. 

His brother Joseph Handford Molyneux was also killed in action whilst serving with the Royal Naval Division. He was drafted for the British Expeditionary Force to the Western Front on the 30th July 1916 and posted to the 188th Brigade Machine Gun Company on the 01st August. He died on the 13th November 1916 and now rests at Ancre British Cemetery, Beaumont-Hamel, France. 

Ellis' older brother, George Molyneux, made a career as a professional footballer and then later as a football manager. He played one game for Everton in 1896 and spent a second spell with them from 1898 to 1900. He was then transferred to Southampton where he played from 1900 to 1905. At the time of the 1901 census he was lodging with the Podesta family at 58 Dover Street, Southampton, along with another Lancashire-born footballer, Arthur Blackburn.  Whilst at Southampton he made four appearances for England during the 1902-3 season. One of these appearances was at Glasgow on the 5th April 1902, the occasion of the Ibrox Disaster, when 25 supporters died and over 500 were injured when a stand collapsed.  

He played for Portsmouth (1905-1906), before moving to Southend (1906-1911) where he was player-manager for the season 1910-11. He was boarding with the Orton family at 10 Gossett Avenue in the Prittlewell district of Southend at the time of the 1911 census. George ended his playing career at Colchester Town. He died at Rochford, Kent, in 1942.

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