Career
Ellison-Macartney was called to the bar in 1846, and to the Irish Bar in 1848. In 1870 he was High Sheriff of County Armagh. Ellison-Macartney first stood for Parliament at the Tyrone by-election in 1873 after the death of Henry T. Lowry-Corry.
At the 1874 general election, Tyrone"s two seats were contested by three Conservatives, and Ellison-Macartney topped the poll by a wide margin, unseating the sitting Member of Parliament Lord Claud Hamilton.
He was re-elected in 1880, and held the seat until the Redistribution of Seats Acting divided the Tyrone constituency into four new single-member divisions for the 1885 general election. He did not stand again.