Ellis was born in Alford, Lincolnshire. His early career was as an apothecary in Hull, but he soon took an interest in the treatment of mental disorders. This he learnt at the Sculcoates Refuge in Hull; which was run on a similar model as the York Retreat. In 1817 a William Ellis was appointed as superintendent to the newly built West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum at Wakefield. A Methodist, he too had strong religious convictions and so with his wife as matron he employed the same principles of humane treatment and moral therapy as practised at Sculcoates Refuge. After 13 years their reputation had become such, that they were then invited to run the newly built first pauper asylum in Middlesex called the Hanwell Asylum. Accepting the posts, the asylum opened in May 1831. Here the Ellis's introduced their own type of "humane treatment" and moral therapy combined with "therapeutic employment". The approach Ellis used went down well with patients: it was always voluntary and made them feel valued and appreciated, so that they could recover their self-esteem. Also, by having something with real purpose to do that helped with the care of others or the running of the asylum, they could not only occupy their time, but take their minds off their troubles, so that suicides became rare. Patients who preserved their everyday skills in this way found it easier to pick up their lives again, when they were well enough to leave, which now came sooner, as the methods speeded their recovery. Ellis became famous in his own lifetime for his pioneering work and his adherence to this "Great Principle of Therapeutic Employment". He was rewarded with a knighthood. Here it is worth pointing out that the records which appear to show poorer recovery rates than those achieved today are total patient counts. As the new asylum system grew, so did the number of those admitted who were always deemed "incurable" and so quite different from the "lunatic insane" for whom these institutions had been built. The greater part of these new classes of patients were elderly, being sent by workhouses as being ill and very close to death. Furthermore, before the introduction of antibiotics there were other incurables entering, such as those with tertiary syphilis and gonorrhea. Towards the end of the 19th century, greater numbers of people suffering from epilepsy were also admitted. All these additional patients had the effect of slewing some of the modern accounts critical of the effectiveness of these early establishments, even though there survives a mass of comprehensive and detailed records from the period. Ellis resigned his post at Hanwell in 1838. This came about because the visiting justices sought to expand the capacity of the asylum again. Since the institution was wholly funded by a levy on the local rates, it was becoming of importance, in the opinion of the justices, that best use be made of the assets and money spent, and that there were records and statistics to demonstrate that this was indeed being achieved. However, it required an organisational change in the way and in the detail that the asylum was managed and run. William and his wife Mildred enjoyed being involved with all aspects of patient care and staff oversight, to create a "domestic" or homely environment. As Ellis stated in the same year: These intended changes made it impossible for the couple to continue to do what their heartfelt conviction demanded. He and Lady Ellis set up their own private asylum for a few ladies and gentlemen of the upper social classes, quite nearby, in the grounds of Southall Park, this being the former residence of Lord Montford. Ellis was a very large man and plagued throughout his life by ill health. This precipitated his untimely death from dropsy just as short while later, on 24 October 1839.
