Ernest was the son of John Russell Lewis (born in Battle) and Mary, nee Harrison, (born in Lenham, Kent).
In 1881 John Russell and Mary were living at 10 Elwick Road, Ashford, Kent. (There is a major Shopping Centre now in Elwick Road, built in the 1950s, and it is completely urban.)
He was a Farmer and Grazier, with 1000 acres, employing 15 men and 3 boys. (His father was also a Farmer.) Ernest was the youngest of their 4 children, all born in Ashford. Ernest's Aunt Eleanor was visiting, and the household had a Cook, a Housemaid, an Upper and a Lower Nurse.
From Punch s Guide to Servants, Victorian London: Supposing that you enter service as a nursery-maid, there will, perhaps, be an upper nurse, who will be, in fact, your mistress. Your care at home will be to wait on her; and when walking out, you will have to keep the children at a convenient distance while she flirts with her beau, who will probably be one of the British soldiery. This will be very tantalising to you at first; but you must recollect that your own time will come, if you wait patiently.
By 1891, Ernest was a scholar, with his older brother Sidney, at Fitzroy Lodge, in Highgate. Fitzroy Lodge was a Boarding school for Highgate School pupils.
Father John died in 1900, aged 88, and was buried in Ashford.
Mary continued to live, with her daughters and two Servants, in Ashford but by 1911 she had moved to Woodview, St Botolphs Road, with daughters Isabel and Mary, a Cook and a General Servant. The family was living on its own means.
Ernest married Alice Mary Burnie in 1906, in Bromley.
Alice was born in Hong Kong, daughter of Captain Edward Burnie, Surveyor to Lloyd's Register, Singapore, and his wife Janet, nee Inglis. Alice was born in 1882, the fourth of the six children of Captain and Mrs Lewis, five born in Hong Kong, the sixth in China..
Father Captain Edward died in 1900 in Hong Kong. (Mother Janet died in 1931 in Berkshire.)
In 1901 Alice was living, with her Mother and two younger siblings, Constance and Arthur, and 2 Servants, in Beckenham, Kent
By the 1911 Census: Ernest and Alice were living in Sumner Cottage, Bishopstone. He was living on his own means.
In 1921 the family were in Cromwell Crescent, in Kensington. Ernest was retired from the Foreign Office. Son John Basil, aged 2 and born in London, was there, with Alice. They had a Domestic Nurse and a Domestic Servant.
According to the 1939 census, the couple was living at 7 St Michaels' Road, in Heene. Ernest was a Retired Journalist, and Alice Incapacitated. She died a year later. With them was son John, now 20, Undergraduate at Cambridge.
At the time of his death, Ernest was living at 34 Downview Court, in Boundary Road. He died at Southlands. He left over £1 million!