- Listenly
- Public Library
- All Authors
- A. B. (Alfred Burdon) Ellis
author
A. B. (Alfred Burdon) Ellis
1852–1894
A British army officer turned prolific writer, he recorded the religions, folklore, and social customs of West African societies in a series of vivid late-19th-century books. His work blends colonial-era travel writing with some of the earliest detailed English-language ethnographic accounts of the region.
2 Audiobooks
The History of the First West India Regiment
by A. B. (Alfred Burdon) Ellis
The Land of Fetish
by A. B. (Alfred Burdon) Ellis
About the author
Born in 1852, Alfred Burdon Ellis served as a British military officer and was associated with the 1st West India Regiment. Alongside his army career, he became known for writing extensively about West Africa, especially its languages, beliefs, folklore, and social life.
His best-known books include The Tshi-Speaking Peoples of the Gold Coast of West Africa, The Ewe-Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, The Yoruba-Speaking Peoples of the Slave Coast of West Africa, The Land of Fetish, and The History of the First West India Regiment. He also published articles on religion, kinship, folklore, and custom, helping introduce many English-speaking readers of his time to West African traditions.
Ellis died in 1894, relatively young, but left behind a substantial body of work. Today his books are often read both for the information they preserve and as documents of their era, reflecting the close mix of observation, scholarship, and colonial viewpoint that shaped much 19th-century writing about Africa.