Ellis | Roland Hubert Wyburne
Biography
Captain Roland Hubert Wyburn Ellis was born at Cookham Dean, Berkshire on 30th June 1913, the son of Bertram and Winifred Ellis. He had an elder sister Mollie Keele and a younger brother Desmond. They were brought up in a large country house, as their father had retired very early being a successful businessman in London.
He went to Temple Grove, Sussex, a boarding school, before going to Rugby School, Warwickshire.
Educated at Rugby School he was a gifted Rugby player and also an outstanding runner for the school teams. Aged 14 he played the school chapel organ for the 800 person congregation. He was the youngest boy ever to do so. He then went to Trinity College, Cambridge University where he excelled as an organist and attained a MA and Law Degree. He went to Parker Garrard, a firm of solicitors and became a well-recognized and respected lawyer. He played the organ at the lawyer’s London chapel.
Military career
Roland joined the Inns of Court Regiment as an officer, before joining the 15/19th The Kings Royal Hussars in Yorkshire in 1942 after the retreat from Dunkirk. The Regiment was reformed in Northern England, where he was Assistant Adjutant.
Originally, this regiment was formed as the 15th/19th Hussars in April 1922 by merging the 15th The King’s Hussars with the 19th Royal Hussars. This came as part of a general reduction in British cavalry in the aftermath of the First World War (1914-18).
The new unit served in Egypt, India and England during the 1920s and 1930s. In 1932 and 1933, it inherited the two royal prefixes from the titles of its predecessors. It later joined the Royal Armoured Corps in 1939.
During the Second World War (1939-45), the regiment served with the British Expeditionary Force, but lost all its armour during the Battle of France (1940) and its evacuation from Dunkirk. In December 1940, a cadre was detached from the regiment to form a new unit, the 23rd Hussars.
The 15th/19th then served in the United Kingdom with 9th Armoured Division until becoming a reconnaissance unit in Normandy in August 1944. Attached to 11th Armoured Division, it subsequently fought its way into Germany, where it served as part of the Allied occupation force.
At the age of 27 years Roland was quickly promoted Captain, before the Regiment landed in France in 1944. He had a short spell as Air Liaison Officer to General Sir Brian Horrocks division, before returning to the Regiment as Assistant Adjutant to 15/19th The Kings Royal Hussars. This posting meant he became close to the Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) Peggy O’Neil both being great runners. He played the piano at concerts on occasions when the Regiment was pulled back from front line fighting in France, Belgian and Holland.
In August 1944 he returned to his Regiment and was appointed second in Command of B Squadron. By September 25th the regiment entered Sint Anthonis in Holland, coming from the area of Eindhoven and Gemert. After the Regiment recaptured Sint Anthonis with the 4th Battalion King’s Shropshire Light Infantry Regiment it was decided to move B Squadron further East. On 27th September, during a reorganisation and an attack on Stevensbeek, a stray mortar bomb hit the turret of Roland’s tank killing him just before Radioweg. RSM Peggy O’Neil took him to an orchard of the Van Sambeek family in the Molenstraat, Sint Anthonis, where he was temporarily buried.
He then was reburied in the churchyard at the Catholic Church, Sint Anthonis at the request of his family. His brother, Major Desmond Ellis, was with the 1st Battalion Middlesex Regiment at Deurne when Lt Colonel Anthony Taylor told him of his brother’s death. He was given leave to go to Sint Anthonis and saw Colonel Anthony Taylor and his brother’s officers, who had served with him. He was taken to see Mayor Goosens, who arranged for him to be buried in the local churchyard, which was his mother’s wish. The churchyard became the final resting place of Roland, next to the other three servicemen who are buried there: Lance Corporal Maurice Lock, Lieutenant John Wilson and Lieutenant/Colonel David Silvertop.
Aftermath
The Ellis family greatly appreciate three generations of the Goosens family for looking after Roland’s grave, and whose nephew Roland is in contact with the grandson of the Mayor, Tonny Goosens.
Major Desmond Ellis kept up with Mayor Goosens and on his passing with Martin Goosens.
In 1966 nephew Roland, Major Desmond Ellis’s son, joined his uncle’s regiment and served in Germany, Cyprus and Libya. On his travels to Germany he regularly saw Martin and Thea, and after they passed Tonny Goosens has been wonderful keeping in touch with Roland in New Zealand. After four years as a Short Service Officer, Roland then served for 20 years as an AER officer with 15/19th KRH. AER stands for Army Emergency Reserve, which was set up sometime after WW2, so that Regiments could attach former officers to serve again with them for about a month each year. These officers would then fill in wherever needed in the Regiment, which took Roland to Germany, Cyprus and Denmark over those 20years. They could also be called up to serve mostly in Brigade, Divisional or Corps Headquarters during wars like the Gulf War or other such problems.
Roland and his wife flew to Sint Anthonis for the 75th commemorations in 2019, for which they will be forever grateful for the way the Mayor and people of the town looked after them. Uncle Roly’s framed war medals were given to the Sint Anthonis town as a thank you for all they had done. Recently Tonny Goosens sent a photo of the place on the road Radioweg where Roland Ellis was killed. The Local Society had set out a 32km bike ride putting crosses at the places where those who were killed in memory of them.
