Sir Henry George Elliot (30 June 1817 – 30 March 1907) was a British diplomat. He was the second son of

Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 2nd Earl of Minto Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 2nd Earl of Minto, (; 16 November 178231 July 1859), styled as Viscount Melgund between 1813 and 1814, was a British diplomat and Whig politician. Background and education Minto was the eldest son of the Gilbe ...

. He was most noted for his period as ambassador at

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

, and his participation in the 1876-77

Constantinople Conference The 1876–77 Constantinople Conference ( tr, Tersane Konferansı "Shipyard Conference", after the venue ''Tersane Sarayı'' "Shipyard Palace") of the Great Powers (Austria-Hungary, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia) was held in Constan ...

. Elliot took a pro-Turkish line despite the ‘

Bulgarian atrocities The April Uprising ( bg, Априлско въстание, Aprilsko vastanie) was an insurrection organised by the Bulgarians in the Ottoman Empire from April to May 1876. The regular Ottoman Army and irregular military, irregular bashi-bazou ...

’. He argued in a dispatch he made on 4 September 1876 "that British interests in preventing change in the Turkish empire were 'not affected by the question whether it was 10,000 or 20,000 persons who perished in the suppression'. As a result of the unpopularity in Britain of his pragmatism in the face of atrocities he was relocated to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1877. He died at home (

Ardington House Ardington is a village and civil parish about east of Wantage in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire. Since 2012 responsibility for Ardington and the neighbouring pa ...

near

Wantage Wantage () is a historic market town and civil parish in Oxfordshire, England. Although within the boundaries of the historic county of Berkshire, it has been administered as part of the Vale of White Horse district of Oxfordshire since 1974. T ...

) in 1907.http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/33002?docPos=1 H. C. G. Matthew, ‘Elliot, Sir Henry George (1817–1907)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004;The Times, Monday, 1 Apr 1907; pg. 7; Issue 38295; col F Death Of Sir Henry Elliot.

Education

Elliot was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and then

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

. He did not take a degree.

Early employment

Elliot's first proper employment was to work as the ''aide-de-camp'' and private secretary to

Sir John Franklin Sir John Franklin (16 April 1786 – 11 June 1847) was a British Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. After serving in wars against Napoleonic France and the United States, he led two expeditions into the Canadian Arctic and through t ...

in Tasmania. He worked there from 1836 to 1839. In 1840 he worked at the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

as a ''précis'' writer for

Lord Palmerston Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...

at the

Diplomatic service

In 1841 Elliot entered the diplomatic service. His first posting was as an ''attaché'' at

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. This was followed first, in 1848 by a position as a secretary to the legation at

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

then in 1853 to Vienna and then in 1858 he was appointed Minister at

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Italy

In 1859 he was appointed Minister in Naples. This was followed in 1863 by an appointed as Minister to the King of Italy. This lasted till 1867.

Istanbul

In 1867 he was appointed Ambassador at Constantinople.

Matthew's judgement on Elliot

H. C. G. Matthews, in the concluding paragraph of Elliot's entry in the

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

, notes that: :''To have annoyed both

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

and

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

was unusual. Elliot, in fact, represented the accepted Foreign Office view of his day as to the need to maintain the

Porte Porte may refer to: *Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire *Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy *John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator *Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...

. His illiberal statements of 1876–7 should not mask his overall competence in maintaining whiggish objectives of liberal constitutionalism, at least in western Europe.''

Meyer's judgement on Elliot

Elliot's role as Ambassador to Constantinople was a central theme in a book and BBC Four TV programme aired 22 February 2010 written and presented by Sir

Christopher Meyer Sir Christopher John Rome Meyer (22 February 1944 – 27 July 2022) was a British diplomat who served as the Ambassador to the United States (1997–2003), Ambassador to Germany (1997), and the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission (20 ...

, former British Ambassador to the US. Meyer examined the possibility of an ethical foreign policy. The programme argued that Elliot supported Turkey because it acted as a bulwark between Russia and the UK's interests in the middle-east and India. Elliot's critics accused him of turning "native" but he argued, and the programme lent support to this view, that there were capital considerations they had not taken into account.Meyer, Christopher (2009) Getting Our Way: 500 Years of Adventure and Intrigue: the Inside Story of British Diplomacy, Weidenfeld & Nicolson,

References

External links

*
SIR HENRY ELLIOT.—OBSERVATIONS. (Hansard, 27 March 1877)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliot, Henry Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Eton College Younger sons of earls 1817 births 1907 deaths Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Ottoman Empire Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Denmark Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the Holy See Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Italy Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Austria-Hungary