Gillick was born in Nottingham and then studied at the Nottingham School of Art under Thomas Meldrum. He had been a fellow student with the young Laura KNIGHT, who in her biography notes 'In the year 1896 I first tried to compose pictures. Ernest Gillick was quite enthusiastic about a picture I had painted out of my head, and he never knew what encouragement his few words of praise then gave me.'

In 1902 Gillick was awarded a scholarship to study at the RA Schools where he won a further travelling Scholarship to Italy, returning to begin exhibiting at the RA in 1904. In 1905 he married Mary TUTIN, who specialised in medallions. They were to collaborate on designs.

After WWI the couple worked from Riverside Studios in Lamorna, near Penzance, but also maintained a home in Knightsbridge (behind Harrods) where Laura KNIGHT and Samuel John Lamorna BIRCH sometimes stayed when visiting London (1930s). Gillick was a member of the Arts Club in London, and in 1928 he proposed Birch for membership - which SJ was pleased to take up. He exhibited regularly at the RA up to 1951, and was awarded the Royal British Sculptors' medal in 1935.

As a sculptor, Gillick is well known for his memorial works; however he also produced busts, statuettes, reliefs and decorative objects as well as medallion commissions. Regular commission work came from the Royal Mint., and he was commissioned to design and produce the RA prize medal of 1936.