Ellis born in 1603 was one of Bolton’s first watchmakers. Watches were being produced in Great Britain from around the middle of the reign of Elizabeth 1(AD 1533-1603).
Ellis sued the Liverpool watchmaker Capt. Samuel Aspinwall for non-delivery of a set of watchmaking tools in 1654. Thomas Aspinwall was one of the earliest known watchmakers in Britain, was based in Toxteth near Liverpool.
Ellis was living in Tonge and well connected in the town and he published a number of pamphlets etc.
Listed variously as a watchmaker, inventor, he was most certainly one of the earliest watchmakers in the town. At death in 1678 he was listed as an inventor.
Watches at the time often only told the hours, and were the equivalent of circa £30,000 to commission from a watchmaker.
There are no known examples of his work surviving.