He was born on 25 August 1902 the son of Bernard Ellis, a prominent Quaker in Leicester. He studied at Downs and Leighton Park School: then a Quaker school. In 1920 he joined his elder brother at King's College, Cambridge. He graduated with an MA in natural sciences in 1923 then went to St Thomas Hospital in London for professional training as a doctor, receiving an MB from the University of London in 1926.
