Henry Ellis was one of the most distinguished of the English seventeenth-century provincial gunmakers, and his production seems to date from about 1690, and to extend to at least 1712, when he appears as 'gunsmith' in the records of the Borough of Doncaster. He was admitted to the freedom of Doncaster on 15 November 1698, and he died in 1722 or 1723

For similar pocket pistols see W. Keith Neal and D.H.L. Back, Great British Gunmakers 1540-1740, pp. 184-186, and Anthony P. Darling, 'English Provincial Gunmakers, 1680-1720, as Exemplified by Some Works of Henry Ellis of Doncaster', Arms and Armor Annual, vol. 1, 1973, pp. 200-201