Ralph Ellis

Ralph Gordon Ellis (1885–1963) was an English painter and designer of inn signs.

Life and work Ralph Gordon Ellis was born in Arundel on 31 January 1885 at no.12 the High Street, overlooking the square. His father William was in business as a taxidermist.

On leaving school, Ellis went away to London as an apprentice to a furniture draughtsman and designer, but never settled to the work. Instead, he turned to painting—an interest of his father's—by day making his living painting houses and after work attending evening classes in drawing and painting. He then enrolled at Slade School of Fine Art in London where he studied until 1919. El Rio in 1933. More than 50 of his inn signs were included in the 1936 Inn Signs Exhibition at London's Building Centre.

Signs painted for inns and hotels

Cricketers (Donnington) Coach & Horses (Compton) Fox & Hounds (Funtington) Black Horse (Binsted)