Ellis, Thomas Eyre

Thomas Eyre Ellis was born in Cork in 1821.[1] It is possible he was an immigrant referred to as Thomas Ellis aboard the Orient as a steerage passenger in December 1839 but without confirmation of the middle name this cannot be verified.[2]

He was registrar of Petty Sessions and clerk to the bench between March 1840 and June 1841 and after leaving Berrima Ellis returned to Sydney as the curiously named ‘4th Tidewaiter’, essentially a customs official who boarded merchant vessels to overview and tax their cargo.[3]

The only records of him after this time are an insolvency in 1842 and as an Auctioneer.[4] A report of a theft in 1882 places his saleyards in George Street.[5]

He died in July 1902 and is buried in the Catholic section of Rookwood cemetery.[6]

[1] Ancestry.com – Piper-Ryan family tree

[2] Unassisted Immigrants List, ancestry.com

[3] Returns of the Colony for NSW, 1840, pp. 41-2

[4] Sydney Herald, Thursday 23 June 1842; SRNSW Indexes to Deceased Estates Files, 1880–1923; NRS 13341; Series: Z Series (1880-1923); Reel Number: 3206; Government Gazette for 1892 p. 1630

[5] Police Gazette, 6 December 1882, p. 474

[6] Cemetery Headstone Transcriptions, 1837-2003 ancestry.com [database on-line]