Cylchgronau Cymru

He also took a keen interest in public affairs and was for some years a member of the Llanidloes Borough Council and of the governors of the local County Intermediate School89. A Con- gregationalist, he served as Secretary of his local chapel where he was also a senior deacon. He also maintained friendly relationships with other local printers and on one occasion in the twenties, when the staff of the Montgomeryshire Express were on strike, he took some of his own staff to Newtown and together, assisted the proprietor, W. P. Phillips, to produce his weekly newspaper. During the forty years he was in business, John Ellis printed and published a number of books which have since become useful and reliable sources on various aspects of local history. He printed three small books by Richard Bennett, the Calvinistic Methodist historian, and four volumes by Charles Evans, (Siarl Trannon), whose books have become invaluable sources of local history. The biography of the Rev. Humphrey Gwalchmai, the first ordained minister of the Calvinistic Methodist Church in Wales90, by T. Mordaf Pierce gives a vivid picture of the history of that denomination in Llanidloes, and its second edition printed by Ellis in 1908, also devoted a chapter to the history of the town's printers. His tour de force, however, is A municipal history of Llanidloes, by E. R. Horsfall-Turner, which he printed at his Caxton Printing Works in 1908. His reprint of Edward Hamer's A brief account of the Chartist outbreak at Llanidloes in the year 1839, with an introduction by C. E. Vaughan Owen appeared in 1939, and was probably the last book to be printed by him before he died in 1941. All the books printed at his press were hand set, and his daughter, Eunice M. Ellis, recalls the printing of Horsfall-Turner's municipal history, when her mother and brother had to assist with the folding of the sheets before binding. Of all the Llanidloes printers, John Ellis probably produced more books relating to the locality's history than any of his predecessors, and it is for this contribution that he will be best remembered in the town. When he died on May 24, 1941, at the age of seventy, John Ellis had been in business as a printer and stationer in his native town for over forty years. He was survived by his widow, his daughter Eunice and his son John H. Ellis, who succeeded to the printing business91. JOHN H. ELLIS, 1894-1973 John H. Ellis was the son of John Ellis, (1871-1941) and was born at Llanidloes in 1894. Although he wanted to be a farmer, he served his apprenticeship as a printer with his father at his printing office in Long Bridge Street92. Shortly afterwards, the First World War broke out, and John H. Ellis enlisted in the 7th Battalion of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and saw active service in Gallipoli. He also took part in the Sulva Bay landings93. His chief interest was the Llanidloes Borough Band with which he was associated for over half a century94. On his return from the war, he told his father that he had forgotten all he had ever learned about printing, but his father was still insistent and sent him to the St. Bride's Institute in London to further his training95. He later rejoined his father and worked with him until his death 89 Ibid. ^Dictionary of Welsh National Biography down to 1940. op.cit. p. 324. y|Ellis, J. Obituary of Mr. John Ellis, Llanidloes, in Montgomery County Times, May 31, 1941. ^Mytton-Davies, C. op.cit. "Ellis, J. H. Death of Mr. J. H. Ellis, in County Times and Express and Gazette, September 15, 1973. 94Ibid. 95Mytton-Davies, C. op.cit.