William Ellis [also known as William Ellis, II] was born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England in 1824 [or 1822 - sources differ] and is believed to have trained with the sculptor Edward Law (1798-1838). In c.1850 he moved to London where he was a pupil of Alfred Stevens (1817-1875). Ellis returned to Sheffield in the 1860s, where he set up on his own account as a sculptor. He produced several portrait busts including of James Montgomery, Thomas Sale (1874), William Overend (1875); Alfred Stevens (1876); John Arthur Roebuck, MP (1881); Dr H. P. Sorby; Dr. Henry Jackson; Ebeneezer Elliot; Rev. Samuel Earnshaw; and Sir Arnold Knight, MD. Ellis also designed the James Montgomery medallion in 1852 for a Montgomery Prize. Ellis's address was given as 22 Workhouse Lane, Sheffield, Yorkshire in 1851; 3 Pitt Street, Kensington, London in 1861; and 26 Reliance Place, Sheffield, Yorkshire in 1871 and 1881.