Belgrave Hall Is located in Leicestershire. The Hall is a Queen Anne Style Grade II listed property. Now back in 1709 when Belgrave Hall was built, Belgrave was a small village located about 3 miles away from Leicester. The property was built from blue and red brick between 1709 and 1713, Belgrave Hall was commissioned for hosiery merchant Edmund Craddock and his wife Anne in 1709 in the midst of 2 acres (8,100 m2) of walled gardens. Belgrave Hall set a trend for wealthy businessmen to build themselves out-of-town houses in the area. Only two years after its completion, both Edmund and Ann died, and it was then owned by the Simons family for 45 years, the Vann family for 78 years. The Ellis family for 76 years, and Thomas Morley for 13 years. The Ellis Family John Ellis took possession of Belgrave Hall in 1847, when he was 58, with a wife and seven daughters. By the time he moved from Beaumont Leys to the Hall, he was one of Leicester’s most prominent figures. In 1828 he had met George Stephenson, who having completed the Stockton and Darlington Railway was working on the Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Ellis was a key figure in getting the Stephenson’s to take on the building of a line from Leicester to the Swannington coalfields, which was completed in 1833. John Ellis was a Quaker and a reformer, and in 1836 Ellis had become a Town Councillor. In 1840 he had attended the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention. By 1845 as a director of the Midland Railway, he had overseen the merger with the Birmingham and Gloucester Railway. Having moved to his elegant 140-year-old house, he continued both his railway and public life roles. In 1849 he became chairman of the Midland Railway, and represented Leicester in Parliament between 1848 and 1852. John Ellis died in 1862 at Belgrave Hall, and his wife and five of his daughters stayed on at Belgrave Hall. The ‘Belgrave sisters’ played a leading role in various Leicester institutions, and hosted literary and social events at the Hall. They supported the suffragette movement, and Charlotte Ellis was on the ‘Leicester Board of Guardians’ for nine years, administering the town’s poor law relief from 1892, alongside two other pioneer women guardians, Fanny Fullagar and Mary Royce. The sisters valued the gardens and grounds. At Margaret’s funeral in 1923, the sisters were described as, “public spirited” citizens, beloved and looked up to in Belgrave and Leicester. Their home was one of culture and refinement. Their outlook on the world was wide”. Margaret, the last of the daughters, died in 1923, 76 years after they arrived. Paranormal: In 1999, Belgrave Hall became famous across the world when two ghostly figures were recorded on security cameras outside the Hall. The figure was rumoured to be Charlotte Ellis. Here is that very footage that was caught on Camera: The building remained of interest to ghost hunters long after this sighting was explained. The ISPR (International Society for Paranormal Research) examined the footage and decided the image was environmental in nature rather than paranormal, namely a falling leaf, but went on to ‘identify’ quite a few cold spots and ‘residual forces’. The team from Ghost Hunters International concluded it was most likely people with reflective jackets walking around. Death and Grave: John Ellis passed away at Belgrave Hall in 1862 and is buried at Welford Road Cemetery.