Edward Leonard Ellington - World War I

World War I

When the First World War started, Ellington was under training at the Central Flying School. On 5 October 1914, he was sent, not to a flying post but to be the Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General at the headquarters of the British Expeditionary Force in France. On 6 March 1915 he was granted a brevet promotion to lieutenant-colonel and posted as the Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General of the 2nd Cavalry Division.

Ellington then served as a staff officer, from 22 July 1915 with the 2nd Army, then, from 5 February 1916 with the Department of the Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and finally from 14 January 1917 with the General Staff of the VIII Corps. On 20 November 1917 he was made the Deputy Director-General of Military Aeronautics under John Salmond at the War Office. Ellington succeeded John Salmond as Director-General on 18 January 1918.

Ellington was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George on 3 June 1916 and awarded the Russian Order of Saint Stanislaus, 2nd Class on 1 June 1917. He was promoted to the temporary rank of major-general and appointed Acting Controller-General of Equipment in April 1918, becoming substantive in that post in August 1918, before being appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath for services during the War on 1 January 1919.