Item 762 - Letter from R. L. Ellis to R. W. Rothman

Identity area

Reference code

Add. MS a/762

Title

Letter from R. L. Ellis to R. W. Rothman

Date(s)

  • Between 1840-1856 (Creation)

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Item

Extent and medium

1 folded sheet

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Name of creator

(1817-1859)

Biographical history

R. L. Ellis was born at Bath on 25 August 1817 and entered Trinity College in 1836, graduating Senior Wrangler and First Smith's Prizeman in 1840. He was elected to a Trinity Fellowship in the same year, and whilst at Cambridge he conducted research into a variety of subjects, publishing, amongst other works, papers on Roman aqueducts, George Boole's Laws of Thought, the compilation of a Chinese dictionary and the formation of bees' cells and vegetable spirals. During this period he also worked on an edition of the works of Francis Bacon, in collaboration with Douglas Denon Heath and James Spedding. For several years he was editor of the Cambridge Mathematical Journal.

Persistent ill-health, however, eventually forced Ellis to leave Cambridge, and he resigned his Trinity Fellowship in 1849. Moving to the continent, he suffered an attack of rheumatic fever which left him further weakened, and he returned to England the following year in broken health and spirits. His last years were spent near Cambridge at Anstey Hall in Trumpington, where he was able to enjoy the company of old friends and to pursue his studies in spite of recurrent illness. He died on 12 May 1859 at the age of forty-one and was buried at Trumpington.

Archival history

This letter was purchased in 2019 from Richard Ford Ltd, dealers in books, printed ephemera, and manuscripts. There is no indication of the letter's intervening provenance.

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Richard Ford Ltd.

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Criticises "the master" (probably William Whewell) for his understanding of political economics, particularly his suppositions regarding the relationship between supply, demand, and price.

Written at some point between 1840, when Richard Wellesley Rothman gained his M.D. and 1856, when he died. Possibly in the 1840s, as Robert Leslie Ellis resigned his Fellowship in 1849.

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      Dates of creation revision deletion

      This description was created by I. David in 2025.

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          Sources

          Alumni Cantabrigienses entry for Richard Rothman (online)

          Accession area