H. T. Ellacombe

Henry Thomas Ellacomb or Ellicomb (1790-1885) was an English theologian and antiquarian. Ellacomb was the son of Rev. William Ellicomb, Rector of Alfington, Devonshire, born in 1790 and graduated from B.A. In 1812, from East College in Oxford until 1816 he was engaged in engineering at the Chatham shipyard under the leadership of Mark Brunel. In 1816, he transferred to the degree of M.A. and was ordained to treat Cricklade, the arrival of Wiltshire in the Diocese of Gloucester. The following year, being ordained a priest, he moved to Bitton, Gloucestershire, in the same diocese. He held the medicine until 1835, when he became vicar. In 1850, he was introduced to the clergyman of St. George in Devonshire, after which his former prosperity was replaced by his son, Rev. Canon Henry Nicholson Ellacomb (1822-1916), who was an outstanding gardener and mentor to the great gardener. E.A. Bowles. Ellacomb died at St. George Cleist on July 30, 1885, and was buried in Bitton Cemetery. Despite many difficulties, Ellacomb restored the Bitton Church in 1822 and built three other churches in a wide area under his care, including the Christ Church, Hanham, which was built under his direct supervision. In 1843, his parishioners presented him with a certificate, and the church overseers stated that he was a means of providing church housing in the district for 2,285 parishioners and school rooms for 820 children. After moving to St. George's Klyst, he rebuilt the nave of the church, and in 1860 built a house-school and the residence of the master. He was a learned antiquarian, skilled florist and botanist.