Richard Ellis (1781-1846) was an American plantation owner, politician, and judge on the Fourth Circuit Court of Alabama. He was president of the Convention of 1836 that declared Texas' independence of Mexico, signed the Texas Declaration of Independence, and later served in the Texas legislature.

Ellis was born and raised in Virginia, but he settled in Alabama before moving to Texas. He was a member of Alabama’s Constitutional Convention in 1818 and an Associate Justice of the Alabama State Supreme Court (1819-1826).

Ellis settled in Texas in 1834, establishing a plantation in what is now Bowie County. In 1836 he was unanimously elected president of the Texas constitutional convention that declared independence on March 2, 1836. He also held the convention together for the additional seventeen days needed to draft Texas' constitution. He then served the Republic of Texas as a Senator from 1836 to 1840 in the first four congresses.

Richard died in Bowie County on December 20, 1846, but in 1929 he and his wife Mary West Dandrige were reinterred in the State Cemetery at Austin, Texas.

Ellis County, Texas is named in his honor.

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1781 births | 1846 deaths | History of Texas | People from Texas | Texas politicians