With the outbreak of further war in 1863, Ellis and her two sons sailed on the Ida Zieglar, a ship regularly voyaging between Auckland and London, in January 1864, but on 8 March her 6-year-old son drowned when he slipped through the ship's railings, despite attempts to save him. Whilst in England, her brother-in-law, James Ellis, encouraged her to express her opinions by writing a pamphlet on the unfair treatment of women. At her husband's request, she returned to New Zealand in February 1865, leaving John at a boarding-school. Her husband was facing the possibility of bankruptcy, and she assisted him in avoiding his creditors.