Select Elliott Miscellany



Here are some Elliott stories and accounts over the years:

Elliott and Variations Thereof


The Elliott name has come in many variants.  An old rhyme commemorates these differences:

"The double L and single T
Descent from Minto and Wolflee.
The double T and single L
Mark the old race in Stobs that dwell.
The single L and single T
The Eliot of St. Germains be.
But double T and double L
Who they are nobody can tell."

Lady Elliot in her book The Elliots: The Story of a Border Clan made the following additional point:

"Around 1650 someone added an "i" to our name to make it Elliot, which was without a doubt unfortunate as it confuses the clan with a well-known English Norman family called Eliot who settled in West England and South Wales and whose name was derived from the Scandinavian alyot and to whom we are not related.  Does this mean that all Eliots are not related to Elliots, Eliotts, and Elliotts?  Not necessarily.   Yet there are some Eliots who are not clan, but descended from the Norman Alyots."
 


Elliot Border Clans - Redheugh, Arkleton, Stobs, and Minto

The Elliots, along with the Armstrongs, were the most troublesome of the Scottish border families. the Redheugh branch being regarded as the most influential among them.  Robert Elwold (or Elliot) of Redheugh fell at the Battle of Flodden between the Scots and the English in 1513.  From his third son came the Elliots of Arkleton. 

The Stobs branch dated from 1584 and to it descended the Redheugh lands.  Gilbert Elliot of Stobs, known as "Gibbie with the Golden Garters," was convicted of high treason in 1685 for plotting against the Catholic Duke of York, but was pardoned and, after the accession of William of Orange in 1689, was knighted and created Lord Minto.

His son, Lord Justice Clerk of Scotland, was the father of the talented Jane Elliot of Minto, author of that famous song The Flowers of the Forest that commemorated the Battle of Flodden.  This line also produced Gilbert, 1st Earl of Minto and Governor General of India in 1806, and Gilbert, 4th Earl, Viceroy of India in 1905.  The leadership of this family resides with the descendants of the 1st Baronet of Stobs, grandson of "Gibbie" by his fourth son.

Elliott and Variants in Scotland

Elliot rather than Elliott has been the primary spelling of the name in Scotland.  But there have been many variants.  It is thought that the various Border branches gave themselves different spellings just to distinguish themselves.  The table below the numbers under the different spellings over time. 

Numbers
 Elliott
 Elliot Eliot Eliott
 Ellot
 Total
Births at old parish records (pre-1854)
   391
   3,024
   455   205
   126
   4,201
Births at new parish records (post-1854)
  7,284
  8.919
    20        14  
    -  
 16,237 







1841 census
   113
  1,809
    52
    8
    19
   2,001
1901 census
   965
  3,260
     6
    3
     -
   4,234

The next table shows hos the percentages have changed over time.

Percent
 Elliott
 Elliot
 Eliot
 Eliott
 Ellot
 Total
Births at old parish records (pre-1854)
    9     
   72   
   11  
   5  
   3   
  100     
Births at new parish records (post-1854)
   45
    55
     -
    -
    -
   100







1841 xensus
    5
    92
     2
    -
    1
   100
1901 census
   23
    77
     -
    -
    -
   100

Elliot has been the main spelling, although Elliott has been catching up.  The older spelling forms have now died out.


From Sir John Eliot to Major General Granville Elliott

The Eliot family have had a major presence in Cornwall since the mid-1500's.  However, one line of this family took a very different path.  Sir John Eliot, who died in the Tower of London in 1632, had a wayward second son Richard.  He didn't visit Sir John while Sir John was in the Tower and appears to have been the black sheep of the family.  He took off for Europe and later had a son George through Catherine Killigrew.  This illegitimate son was sent to Tangier to be the chirurgeon to the British garrison there.

George's son Roger Elliott, born there in 1665, rose to be a Major General in the British Army and one of the earliest governors of Gibraltar.  His son Granville, also a Major General, died of his wounds at the Battle of Minden in 1759.  Granville had spent much time and effort trying to prove that Richard Eliot had married Catherine Killigrew, but without reward. 

Curiously George Augustus Elliot, of the Scottish Minto Elliots, made his mark by the defense of Gibraltar against Spanish forces in 1779.



Elliott and Eliot in SW England


By the late 19th century, the Elliott spelling had almost entirely displaced Eliot in SW England.  The table below shows the numbers from the 1891 census.


  Elliott
  Eliot
Cornwall
     234
     5
Devon
   1,217
     4
Somerset
     351
    13
Total
   1,802
    22 

 

The Eliot Family from Boston

There are two main Eliot lines.   One line begins in Boston with Samuel Atkins Eliot.  The other begins in Boston with William Greenleaf Eliot and then moves to St. Louis with his son.

Samuel Atkins Eliot (1798-1862), the family patriarch
- Charles Eliot Norton (1827-1908),  author, social critic, and professor of art
   (son of sister Catherine Eliot and her husband Andrew Norton)
- Charles William Eliot (1834-1926), President of Harvard University
  - Charles Eliot (1859-1897), leading landscape artist
  - Samuel Atkins Eliot (1862-1952), Unitarian minister
    - Samuel Atkins Eliot Jr (1893-1984), theater writer
    - Charles W. Eliot (1899-1993), writer
    - Thomas H. Eliot (1907-1991), Chancellor of Washington University, St. Louis    

William Greenleaf Eliot (1781-1853), from Boston
- William Greenleaf Eliot (1811-1887), founder of Washington University, St. Louis
  - Thomas L. Eliot (1841-1936), Unitarian minister and Oregon pioneer
    - Grace Cranch Eliot (!875-1973), teacher and educator
  - Henry W. Eliot (1843-1919), St. Louis businessman
    - Thomas Stearns Eliot (1888-1965), the famous poet
  - Christopher R. Eliot (1856-1945), Unitarian minister
    - Martha Mary Eliot (1891-1978), pedriatrician and specialist in public health

Long lives were a characteristic of this family.  Of the sixteen Eliots listed above, six lived beyond their ninetieth birthday.

Reports on the Death of Richard Elliott of Kissing Point, NSW

The following accounts appeared in the Sydney Gazette on the death of Richard Elliott.

June 5, 1823

"An inquest was held within the last few days on the body of Richard Elliott, an old settler of Kissing Point, who was found dead near to Captain Kent's farm.  Some of the apparel was discovered at a distance from the body, scattered in various directions.  A quantity of blood was clearly seen on the ground close to the spot on which the body lay, the position of which seemed to indicate the attitude of defence.  No other verdict was returned, however, than death by the visitation of God."

June 12, 1823

"Reports that Old Elliott, whose mysterious death was mentioned in the last Gazette as having happened in the vicinity of Kissing Point, was a terrible drunkard; that when in this state he was in the habit - so his wife said before the inquisition - of sleeping in the woods however inclement the weather for the whole night and thus contracting excruciating pains in his body.  When in these seasons of inebriety it was no way unusual for him to engage a stump or a tree and then, overcome with the unequal contest, lie down alongside his hardy protagonist and become lost in sleep. 

It could not be ascertained that a dispute had taken place between anyone and the deceased.  He indeed had nothing to attract a robber, having expended all his little substance, as fast as it came in, on miserable rum.  No mark of violence presented itself. 

In short, there was not the least doubt in the minds of the jury, but that he 'was drunk when he died.'"

June 19, 1823

"In the last report we thought that the truth, as near as could be obtained, was published.

During the last week, however, we have been respectfully informed that there were certainly mysterious circumstances attending the old man's demise.  On examination of his head, it was discovered that he was not inebriated when he died.  It is thought that he must have received a blow which may have been slight and quite unintentional that caused his death.

We have been informed also that a man has been in custody upon the charge of killing him."





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