Ralph Ellerker (died 1546) was an English soldier, knight, and Member of Parliament. Although he was one of the leaders of the Pilgrimage of Grace uprising against King Henry VIII in 1536, he admitted his guilt and was reprieved, and he died in the king's service during the Siege of Boulogne in 1546.
Biography[]
Ralph Ellerker was born in Risby, Yorkshire, England, the son of an esquire of the king's body. Both father and son were knighted in 1513 by the Earl of Surrey after the Battle of Flodden, and Ellerker became Chief Steward of Cotingham and Rise in 1522 and an MP from Scarborough in 1529. In 1533, he served on the frontier with Scotland, and he was in the north of England when the Pilgrimage of Grace uprisings in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire began. He initially remained loyal to the King, earning his praise. However, Elleker was taken prisoner and he agreed to join Robert Bowes on a mission from the rebels to the King. He remained loyal to the King, but he was later accused of having prejudices against chief minister Thomas Cromwell. Ellerker again returned to Parliment in 1542, in 1543 became marshal of Calais, and in 1544 served as marshal of Boulogne after its capture during the Italian War of 1542-46. Elleker was killed in an ambush in Boulogne on 26 April 1546.