Mervyn Archdall Ellison FRAS (1908-1963) was born at Fethard-on-Sea, County Wexford, Ireland on 5 May 1908, the third son of Canon William Frederick Archdall Ellison FRAS (1864-1936), Director of Armagh Observatory, and Elizabeth Havelock Blackburn (1871-1933).
He was educated at the Armagh Royal School (1918-1927) and went on to study at Trinity College, Dublin (1927-1932), from where he graduated with a first class honours degree in experimental physics and in 1932 was awarded an MSc.
From 1932 to 1933 Ellison taught at Armagh Royal School and in September 1933 he was appointed to the teaching staff at Sherborne School where he was in charge of the Army and Navy Class, a post he held until July 1947.
In 1938 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (FRAS) and served on its council from 1940 to 1950.
During his time at Sherborne School, Ellison built a solar observatory and a spectrohelioscope (after the design of George Hale, with castings produced by Petters of Yeovil and the metal work constructed in the School workshops) with which he observed solar flares in hydrogen alpha light. On 25 July 1946 he obtained a superb spectrum of a great flare over a giant sunspot.
In February 1941, Ellison was instrumental in the formation of No.617 Sherborne School Flight of the Air Training Corps, comprised of cadets from Sherborne School and Foster’s School. Flying Officer M.A. Ellison commanded the unit from 1941 to 1944 with Pilot Officer William G. Hewitt in charge of the Foster’s School contingent. The squadron was disbanded in 1946.
From 1944 to 1946, Ellison was scientific advisor to the Admiralty Operational Research Group based at RNAS Lee-on-Solent, Hampshire. He was made a member of the International Astronomical Union in 1946, and in 1947 was appointed Principal Scientific Officer and Deputy Director at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. In 1948 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
In November 1958, Ellison was appointed Senior Professor in the School of Cosmic Physics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies and Director of Dunsink Observatory, Dublin.
Mervyn Archdall Ellison died at Sir Patrick Duns Hospital, Dublin on 12 September 1963.
In 1970, Ellison crater, a lunar impact crater, was named by the International Astronomical Union in Mervyn Ellison’s honour. The crater measures 36.99 km in diameter.
In 2017, Mervyn’s son donated his father’s astronomical notebooks to Sherborne School where they are now held in the School Archives. The notebooks cover the years 1936 to 1950 and contain his observations, readings, calculations, charts drawings, photographs, and correspondence.
See also:
- The M.A. Ellison Archive held at Sherborne School (pdf)
- Former Headmasters and School Staff
For further information about Sherborne School’s archives please contact the School Archivist.
Return to the School Archives homepage.