Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Sir George Augustus Elliot (25 September 1813 – 13 December 1901) was a British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

flag officer A flag officer is a commissioned officer in a nation's armed forces senior enough to be entitled to fly a flag to mark the position from which the officer exercises command. The term is used differently in different countries: *In many countr ...

and politician.

Naval career

He was born in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

, the son of Admiral Sir George Elliot. He entered the navy in November 1827, and was made lieutenant on 12 November 1834. Until 1837 he served aboard HMS ''Astraea'' along with

Lord Edward Russell Admiral Lord Edward Russell, (24 April 1805 – 21 May 1887) was a British naval officer and Whig politician. Early life He was the son of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford, and his second wife Lady Georgina Gordon, and was the younger half- ...

, also later to become a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. On 15 January 1838 he was made captain of the brig ''Columbine'' at the Cape and South Africa stations, under the direct command of his father, capturing six slavers in the two years he served in this position. In February 1840 he went to China with his father, and on 3 June was given command of HMS ''Volage'' after the death of its previous captain, returning to England in 1841 with his invalided father on board as a passenger. From 1843 to 1846 Elliot commanded the frigate HMS ''Eurydice'', designed by his father, on the North American station, and in December 1849 he was appointed to the frigate HMS ''Phaeton''. She was removed from active duty in 1853, and in January 1854 Elliot commissioned HMS ''James Watt'', one of the first screw battleships, which he commanded in the Baltic campaigns of 1854 and 1855, despite the poor performance of the ship, and the dissatisfaction of Vice-Admiral Charles Napier. On 24 February 1858 Elliot became rear-admiral, and was then captain of the fleet to Sir Charles Fremantle, commanding the

Channel Fleet The Channel Fleet and originally known as the Channel Squadron was the Royal Navy formation of warships that defended the waters of the English Channel from 1854 to 1909 and 1914 to 1915. History Throughout the course of Royal Navy's history the ...

. Between 1859 and 1860 he was a member of the

Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom The Royal Commission on the Defence of the United Kingdom was a committee formed in 1859 to enquire into the ability of the United Kingdom to defend itself against an attempted invasion by a foreign power, and to advise the British Government on ...

and signed a report which concluded that the

would be unable to defend the British Isles in the event of an invasion. In 1861 he was considered for the post of controller of the navy, which was given to

Robert Spencer Robinson Admiral Sir Robert Spencer Robinson, (6 January 1809 – 27 July 1889) was a British naval officer, who served as two five-year terms as Controller of the Navy from February 1861 to February 1871, and was therefore responsible for the procuremen ...

. Between 1863 and 1865 he was superintendent of

HMNB Portsmouth His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is lo ...

. On 12 September 1865 he became vice-admiral, and then was repeatedly on royal commissions on naval issues. In a dissenting report appended to the 1871 committee on designs, Elliot and Alfred Ryder, who believed that the ram was the primary weapon of naval combat, pressed for increased freeboard, the retention of sailing rig, and the concentration of armour. The direct result of this report was the construction of the battleship HMS ''Temeraire''. In 1870 Elliot reached the rank of admiral, and in 1874 he was elected

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MP for

Chatham Chatham may refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Chatham Islands (British Columbia) * Chatham Sound, British Columbia * Chatham, New Brunswick, a former town, now a neighbourhood of Miramichi * Chatham (electoral district), New Brunswic ...

; but he resigned his seat in 1875, on being appointed

Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth The Commander-in-Chief, Portsmouth, was a senior commander of the Royal Navy for hundreds of years. The commanders-in-chief were based at premises in High Street, Portsmouth from the 1790s until the end of Sir Thomas Williams's tenure, his succe ...

. On 2 June 1877 he was nominated a KCB, and the following year, on 26 September, he was placed on the retired list. He continued to occupy himself with the study of naval questions after retirement, and published in 1885 ''A Treatise on Future Naval Battles and how to Fight them''. He was an active member of the

Royal United Services Institute The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI, Rusi), registered as Royal United Service Institute for Defence and Security Studies and formerly the Royal United Services Institute for Defence Studies, is a British defence and security think tank. ...

He died in London on 13 December 1901, after a brief illness.

Family

On 1 August 1842 he married Hersey Susan Sidney Wauchope, daughter of Colonel Wauchope, with whom he had several children. Their daughter Elizabeth Georgina Frances Elliot married

George Carnegie, 9th Earl of Northesk Lieutenant-Colonel George John Carnegie, 9th Earl of Northesk DL (1843 – 1891) was a British nobleman and soldier. Early life He was born the son of William Carnegie, 8th Earl of Northesk and Georgiana Maria Elliot on 1 December 1843. Ca ...

, while another daughter, Nina Helen, married Sir Thomas Butler.

Cricket

Elliot is recorded as having played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for

Cambridge University Cricket Club Cambridge University Cricket Club, first recorded in 1817, is the representative cricket club for students of the University of Cambridge. Depending on the circumstances of each individual match, the club has always been recognised as holding ...

in two

first-class matches First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

in 1831. However, at that time he was already in the Navy, and ''

Alumni Cantabrigienses ''Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900'' is a biographical register of former members of the University of Cambridge whic ...

'' has no record of his having attended the University.

References

*P. H. Colomb, ''Memoirs of Admiral the Right Honble. Sir Astley Cooper Key'' (1898) *A. J. Marder, ''The anatomy of British sea power'', American edn (1940) *A. D. Lambert, ''The Crimean War: British grand strategy, 1853–56'' (1990)

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliot, George Augustus 1813 births 1901 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies English cricketers English cricketers of 1826 to 1863 Cambridge University cricketers Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Royal Navy admirals UK MPs 1874–1880 Royal Navy personnel of the Crimean War

Naval career

Family

Cricket

See also

References

External links