Ellis , John , c 1710-1776 , zoologist

John Ellis was born in Ireland in c 1710. He was a merchant in London until 1764, when he became an agent for West Florida, and subsequently for Dominica in 1770. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and published his An Essay towards the Natural History of the Corallines in 1755. He was awarded the Copley medal of the Royal Society in 1768, for his research in this area. He published various other works on aspects of natural history, including descriptions of the coffee-tree, the mangostan and the breadfruit. Linnaeus named a group of boraginaceous plants 'Ellisia' in his honour. He died in 1776.