Sir William Henry Ellis, GBE (20 August 1860 – 4 July 1945) was a British civil engineer and steel maker. Ellis was born on 20 August 1860 in Pitsmoor, Sheffield, Yorkshire. He was the son of John Devonshire Ellis (1824–1906) and, his wife, Elizabeth Bourne. In 1889 Ellis married Lucy Rimington, the daughter of Francis William Tetley who was a director of Joshua Tetley & Son, the brewery in Leeds. Together they had two sons and two daughters. Ellis was a steel maker and in 1914 was elected Master Cutler, the head of the Company of Cutlers in Hallamshire and ambassador of industry for Sheffield. His tenure as Master Cutler, a position which usually changes each year, lasted until 1918 due to the outbreak of the First World War. In 1918 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Enginee