INVENTOR

William Webb Ellis

1806 - 1872

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William Webb Ellis (24 November 1806 – 24 February 1872) was an English Anglican clergyman who, by tradition, has been credited as the inventor of rugby football while a pupil at Rugby School. According to legend, Webb Ellis picked up the ball and ran with it during a school football match in 1823, thus creating the "rugby" style of play. Although the story has become firmly entrenched in the sport's folklore, it is not supported by first-hand evidence, and is discounted by most rugby historians as an origin myth. The Webb Ellis Cup is presented to the winners of the Rugby World Cup. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. William Webb Ellis is the 111th most popular inventor (down from 89th in 2019), the 1,047th most popular biography from United Kingdom (down from 702nd in 2019) and the 17th most popular British Inventor.

William Webb Ellis is most famous for being the inventor of Rugby.

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Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, William Webb Ellis ranks 111 out of 426Before him are Henry Bessemer, Étienne-Jules Marey, Orban, Walter Hunt, Abraham-Louis Breguet, and Vladimir K. Zworykin. After him are Johann Philipp Reis, David Bushnell, Josiah Warren, Clément Ader, Jacque Fresco, and Robert Noyce.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1806, William Webb Ellis ranks 13Before him are Catherine Labouré, Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Alexander Karađorđević, Prince of Serbia, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Charles Gleyre, and Omar Pasha. After him are Duchenne de Boulogne, Pierre Guillaume Frédéric le Play, Alphonse Pyramus de Candolle, Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, Juan Crisóstomo Arriaga, and Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmüller. Among people deceased in 1872, William Webb Ellis ranks 14Before him are Benito Juárez, Stanisław Moniuszko, N. F. S. Grundtvig, Franz Grillparzer, George Robert Gray, and Aleksis Kivi. After him are Ljudevit Gaj, Mary Somerville, Charles-Eugène Delaunay, Mpande kaSenzangakhona, Prince Albert of Prussia, and Vladimir Dal.

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In United Kingdom

Among people born in United Kingdom, William Webb Ellis ranks 1,047 out of 8,785Before him are William Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong (1810), Keith O'Brien (1938), N. R. Pogson (1829), Duncan I of Scotland (1001), John Cale (1942), and Dennis W. Sciama (1926). After him are Ninian (360), Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood (1864), Robert Knox (1791), Katherine Woodville, Duchess of Buckingham (1458), Dorothea Douglass Lambert Chambers (1878), and Anna Atkins (1799).

Among INVENTORS In United Kingdom

Among inventors born in United Kingdom, William Webb Ellis ranks 17Before him are Henry Fox Talbot (1800), Rowland Hill (1795), Thomas Savery (1650), John Harrison (1693), Richard Arkwright (1732), and Henry Bessemer (1813). After him are James Hargreaves (1720), Edmund Cartwright (1743), Samuel Crompton (1753), W. O. Bentley (1888), John Kay (1704), and Robert Stirling (1790).