Printmaker, designer, painter and teacher, married to the artist Rosemary Ellis. He was born in Bognor Regis, Sussex. He spent a year at St Martin’s School of Art before studying illustration at Regent Street Polytechnic School of Art, 1924–7; Ellis then did a year’s postgraduate teacher-training course and in 1929 gained a diploma in art history at London University. It was while teaching at Regent Street Poly from 1928–36 that Ellis married his wife, with whom he was to collaborate on so much work. During the early 1930s they did many notable book-jacket, mosaic and poster designs, patrons including London Transport and the Post Office. In 1936 Clifford Ellis joined the staff of Bath Technical College, in 1938 was appointed head of the School of Art, eventually Bath Academy of Art, where he devised a pioneering syllabus and assembled a notable staff.