William Webb Ellis was born on 24th November 1806 in Salford in Lancashire. His father was James Ellis, a cornet in the 7th Dragoon Guards, in 1809 he was made a Lieutenant of the 3rd Dragoon Guards, joining them in Portugal. William’s mother was Ann, daughter of William Webb, a surgeon, of Alton, Hampshire, whom James married in Exeter in 1804. His paternal grandfather was from Pontyclun in South Wales, a descendant of the Ellis family of Kiddal Hall.  

Not much is known about William Webb Ellis’ early life although in the 1920s and 30s General Eoin O'Duffy of Irish revolutionary fame suggested that he would have spent some time in Ireland where his father was based and may have witnessed Gaelic Football. O’Duffy also suggested this may have been how Ellis got the idea to run with the ball. 

In 1812 his father James was killed in the Pennisula War and in receipt of an allowance of £30 from His Majesty's Royal Bounty in recognition of her husband's service, his mother Ann decided to move William and his brother George to Rugby Warwickshire. The boys could then attend Rugby School for free as foundationers and members of Town House. Both boys entered Rugby School in 1816. 

Not many records about daily school life were kept during the early nineteenth century apart from registers and Blue Books in which William Webb Ellis appears. From these records we know that He started in the Lower School and made his way through to the Sixth form. He was also an Exhibitioner. From other records in the collection, we also know where Football (Rugby) would have been played in the early nineteenth century. The School moved to its current location on the Close in 1750, by 1809 they had contracted Hakewill to build School House and a Chapel. The Chapel was built on a playing field which moved the playing area for the boys to the northwest corner of the Close. Records also show that while William Webb Ellis was at the School when a player caught the ball he had three options.

• He could punt it ahead [today’s up-and-under], 
• attempt a drop kick at goal or 
• place the ball for another player to kick.

According to Matthew Bloxam, on catching the Ball in 1823, William Webb Ellis did none of these things and ran forward with the ball.

Ellis left the School in 1826 and went on to Brasenose College, Oxford, aged 20. After attending university, he entered the Church and became a member of the clergy, preaching in the South East of England. The only known picture of William Webb Ellis appeared in The London Illustrated News in 1854 after he gave a sermon on the Crimean War. He later moved to France and died in the South of France in 1872 and is buried in Menton. 

Four years after Ellis’ death, Matthew Bloxam, an Old Rugbeian who entered the School in 1813 wrote his first account of William Webb Ellis running with the ball and sent it as a letter to The Meteor. He wrote a further two accounts published in 1880 and 1883 about that match. Bloxam’s accounts were investigated by the Old Rugbeian Society in 1895 leading to the installation of a commemorative stone on the Doctor’s Wall in 1900 and a Centenary match on the Close in 1923 to celebrate William Webb Ellis’ impact on the development of the game. Since the 1970s the story has also been celebrated with re-enactments where William Webb Ellis has been played by a student at the School. Though once he was played by Matt Baker when Blue Peter visited.

In 2023 Rugby School will once again be celebrating the game it helped to spread around the world and of course the story of the man who broke the rules but in doing so gave the game a distinctive feature.