Abraham George Ellis

Abraham George Ellis (26 August 1846, Paramaribo – 29 November 1916, Amsterdam) was a Dutch Vice Admiral and politician. Born in Suriname of a mother born in slavery, he was the first Minister of African descent to serve in a Dutch cabinet. Early life Ellis spent his early life in Suriname where he was born. His father was a wealthy civil servant, his mother was the daughter of a freed Surinamese slave. His father, Johannes Ellis (b. 1812), was the illegitimate child of Abraham de Veer, governor of the Dutch Gold Coast (in present-day Ghana) and his Ghanaian housekeeper Fanny Ellis. When Abraham was appointed governor of Sint Eustatius in 1817, he took Johannes with him. In 1822, when he was made governor of Suriname, again he took Johannes along. Johannes' mother, Maria Louisa de Hart (b. 1826) was born in bondage. Her father, a Jewish plantation owner named Mozes-Meijer de Hart had purchased her family's freedom when she had been just a few months old.

Career

Navy Ellis graduated from the Royal Netherlands Naval College in Den Helder on 1 September 1864. He spent over forty years in the navy serving tours to the Dutch East Indies, New Guinea, China, South America and Japan. In between tours he worked ashore with the Naval Torpedo Service and the Personnel Department of the Navy. In June 1902, Ellis was promoted to Rear Admiral and appointed director of Willemsoord naval wharf and the Commander of the Den Helder defense line (Stelling Den Helder). There Ellis cracked down hard on the social democratic sailor's union, earning him a reputation as a "Devourer of Socialists" (Socialistenvreter).