Sir George Elliot, 1st Baronet
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Sir George Elliot, 1st Baronet, JP (18 March 1814 – 23 December 1893) was a mining engineer and self-made businessman from
Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...
in
North East England North East England, commonly referred to simply as the North East within England, is one of nine official regions of England. It consists of County DurhamNorthumberland, , Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and part of northern North Yorkshire. ...
. A
colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extra ...
labourer who went on to own several coal mines, he later bought a
wire rope Steel wire rope (right hand lang lay) Wire rope is composed of as few as two solid, metal wires twisted into a helix that forms a composite ''rope'', in a pattern known as ''laid rope''. Larger diameter wire rope consists of multiple strands of ...
manufacturing company which manufactured the first
Transatlantic telegraph cable Transatlantic telegraph cables were undersea cables running under the Atlantic Ocean for telegraph communications. Telegraphy is a largely obsolete form of communication, and the cables have long since been decommissioned, but telephone and dat ...
. He was also a Conservative Party Member of Parliament (MP).


Early life

George Elliot - often known in the Durham coalfield as Bonnie Geordie - was born in
Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...
, County Durham, on 18 March 1814, the eldest son of Ralph Elliot, a coal miner and Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Braithwaite, of Newcastle upon Tyne.


Mining career

At the age of 9, living in Shiney Row, he was a trapper boy at Whitefield Pit at
Penshaw Penshaw , formerly known as ''Painshaw'' or ''Pensher'' is a village in the metropolitan district of Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England. Historically, Penshaw was located in County Durham. Name and etymology The name ''Penshaw'' was recor ...
where underground he would open the doors when the miners came along with the tubs. He used a quarter of his wages here to fund evening classes. In 1831 he was a union leader in a strike over the length of the working day. and in about 1832 he was apprenticed to
Thomas Sopwith Sir Thomas Octave Murdoch Sopwith, Order of the British Empire, CBE, Hon FRAeS (18 January 1888 – 27 January 1989) was a British aviation pioneer, businessman and yachtsman. Early life Sopwith was born in Kensington, London, on 18 ...
, a leading Tyneside mining engineer and land surveyor, and was involved in investigating coal resources in the Forest of Dean and surveying the line of the
Great North of England Railway The Great North of England Railway (GNER) was an early British railway company. Its main line, opened in 1841 was between York and Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the ...
between Darlington and York. In 1837 he returned to Whitefield as overman and in 1841 became under-manager at Monkwearmouth pit, and then manager in 1844 at the age of 30. In the mid-1840s he became a managing partner in
Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...
colliery and in 1845 opened the Usworth mine. In 1848 he was appointed viewer to
Lord Londonderry Marquess of Londonderry, of the County of County Londonderry, Londonderry ( ), is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. History The title was created in 1816 for Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry, Robert Stewart, 1st Earl of Londonderry ...
with responsibilities for collieries, railways and harbours - notably the development of
Seaham Seaham ( ) is a seaside town in County Durham (district), County Durham, England. Located on the Durham Coast, Seaham is situated south of Sunderland and east of Durham, England, Durham. The town grew from the late 19th century onwards as ...
Harbour - and in 1850 bought the Whitfield mine from him. In the 1860s he acquired further mines in North Wales, Staffordshire, and in Nova Scotia and then in 1863 formed a partnership which bought for £365,000 all the South Wales coal mines of the late Thomas Powell. He then established the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Co (PDSC) which grew to be the largest coal company in South Wales. He was acting manager of the company until 1877 and extended the business, buying coal mines near Aberdare including the rich coal mine and ironworks of Crawshay Bailey. In 1873, with William Hunter of Sandhoe, he opened Kimblesworth Colliery near Durham. Elliot was keen to try new mining technologies and was an advocate of improved safety lamps, shaft detaching hooks, and coal-cutting machinery. He held trials on new methods of ventilation and made a major contribution to methods of mining coal simultaneously in adjacent seams. He was closely involved with professional activities in mining, being a founder member of the
North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers The North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers (NEIMME), commonly known as The Mining Institute, is a British Royal Chartered learned society and membership organisation dedicated to advancing science and technology in the N ...
, a member of its council for many years and President in 1868–9. His inaugural address in November 1868 suggested that the various regional mining institutions should amalgamate to increase appreciation of the profession and to affiliate with the Institution of Civil Engineers to improve professional recognition. He was also a member of other professional engineering institutions and unlike some owners he supported the establishment of the Mines Inspectorate in the 1850s. He appeared as an expert witness before several government inquiries, and served on the Royal Commission on the coal industry that reported in 1871 and the Royal Commission on Accidents in Mines that reported in 1886. Shortly before his death in 1893 he proposed the amalgamation of collieries into a massive semi-public enterprise monitored by the Board of Trade, which would control output, fix prices, pay fair wages, and establish a miners' welfare fund.


Business activities

In 1849 he bought Kuper & Co, a London maker of telegraph cables and wire ropes used in mines and formed a partnership with Richard Atwood Glass as Glass, Elliot and Co. In 1864 this was amalgamated with the Gutta Percha Company to form the Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company (based at
Enderby's Wharf Enderby's Wharf is a wharf and industrial site on the south bank of the Thames in Greenwich, London, associated with Telcon and other companies. It has a history of more than 150 years of production of submarine communication cables and associ ...
in Greenwich, southeast London), and it was this concern that laid the first permanent
transatlantic telegraph cable Transatlantic telegraph cables were undersea cables running under the Atlantic Ocean for telegraph communications. Telegraphy is a largely obsolete form of communication, and the cables have long since been decommissioned, but telephone and dat ...
in 1866. A new company, George Elliot and Co, was set up to take over the manufacture of wire rope at new works in Newcastle and Cardiff. He supported the development of
Newport Docks Newport Docks is the collective name for a group of docks in the city of Newport, south-east Wales. By the eighteenth century there were a number of wharves on the west shore of the River Usk; iron and coal were the principal outward traffic. Th ...
as an alternative to Cardiff - the Alexandra northern dock in Newport was opened in 1875 - and was one of the promoters of the
Pontypridd, Caerphilly and Newport Railway The Pontypridd, Caerphilly and Newport Railway was built to bring the coal output of the Aberdare and Rhondda valleys directly to Alexandra Docks at Newport. It was a little over in length, running from Pontypridd to a junction near Caerphil ...
, to give a direct route from collieries to the Alexandra Dock.


Political career

At the 1868 general election, Elliot was elected Member of Parliament for
North Durham North Durham is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since 2024 by Luke Akehurst of th ...
. In 1873, with William Hunter of Sandhoe, he opened Kimblesworth Colliery. He lost his seat at Durham at the 1874 general election but regained it later in the year. He was created a
baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
on 15 May 1874 in recognition of his work for public services. He advised
Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...
to invest in the
Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...
, which provided a faster shipping route to India. He was a financial adviser to the Egyptian
Khedive Khedive ( ; ; ) was an honorific title of Classical Persian origin used for the sultans and grand viziers of the Ottoman Empire, but most famously for the Khedive of Egypt, viceroy of Egypt from 1805 to 1914.Adam Mestyan"Khedive" ''Encyclopaedi ...
(the viceroy under the Ottomans), and also received an honour from the King of Portugal – the grand cross of the military order of Our Lady of Villa Viciosa. As an MP made arrangements for the new tongue of
Big Ben Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, and, by extension, for the clock tower itself, which stands at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. Originally named the Clock Tower, it ...
, in
Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...
, London, to be forged at Hopper's Iron Foundry in
Houghton-le-Spring Houghton-le-Spring ( ) is a town in the Sunderland district, in Tyne and Wear, England which has its recorded origins in Norman times. Historically in County Durham, it is now administered as part of the Tyne and Wear county. It lies betw ...
. In 1880 Elliot lost his seat at North Durham but regained it in a by-election in 1881. In 1885 the North Durham constituency was reorganised under the
Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 23) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (sometimes called the "Reform Act of 1885"). It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that r ...
and at the 1886 general election Elliot was elected MP for
Monmouth Boroughs Monmouth Boroughs (also known as the Monmouth District of Boroughs) was a parliamentary constituency consisting of several towns in Monmouthshire. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliaments of England, ...
. He held the seat until 1892.


George Hudson

When the Railway King
George Hudson George Hudson (probably 10 March 1800 – 14 December 1871) was an English railway financier and politician who, because he controlled a significant part of the Railway Mania, railway network in the 1840s, became known as "The Railway King"—a ...
was arrested for his debts in 1865 and imprisoned in York Prison it was Elliot who paid off the debt to enable his release. Elliot and Hugh Taylor (MP) were both friends of Hudson so when by 1871 he was deeply in debt, in bad health and living in exile they started a subscription fund which they launched with a donation of 100 Guineas each. When this closed it was converted into a trust fund (legally protected from Hudson's creditors) and provided Hudson with an income.


Personal life

George Elliot married Margaret Green of Rainton, Durham, in 1836, and they had two sons and four daughters. Margaret died in 1880, and he never remarried, but he was involved in a well-publicized breach of promise case ten years later when he was sued by Emily Mary Hairs, a professional singer, for £5000 damages, but her claim was rejected by a jury. In 1874/5 he was president of Durham University Society and in 1876 he was Provincial Grand Master of the
Freemasons Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...
in South Wales. Elliot was keen on having memorials to his family. In 1877 he donated the 130-foot tall tower and spire of St Mary's Church, West Rainton, in memory of his daughter, Elizabeth, and in 1878 erected a stone tomb in the churchyard of All Saints' Church, Penshaw to his father, mother and brothers and also to his son Ralph Elliot who had died in 1873 aged 35 at the Cape of Good Hope. In 1889 he donated a stained glass window of the Baptism, Resurrection and Ascension to the same church. In 1882 he purchased land in
Aberaman Aberaman is a village near Aberdare in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales. It was heavily dependent on the coal industry and the population, as a result, grew rapidly in the late nineteenth century. Most of the industry has now ...
in South Wales as a gift in memory of his wife and daughter Elizabeth. Work then commenced on the construction of St Margaret's Church and it was completed in 1883. Elliot owned substantial estates in Monmouthshire and at Whitby, where in the 1870s he further developed the West Cliff area and had a house called "The Crescent" built. Elliot was visited at his residence at the Royal Crescent in
Whitby Whitby is a seaside town, port and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It is on the Yorkshire Coast at the mouth of the River Esk, North Yorkshire, River Esk and has a maritime, mineral and tourist economy. From the Middle Ages, Whitby ...
by
Bram Stoker Abraham Stoker (8 November 1847 – 20 April 1912), better known by his pen name Bram Stoker, was an Irish novelist who wrote the 1897 Gothic horror novel ''Dracula''. The book is widely considered a milestone in Vampire fiction, and one of t ...
. Elliot owned an Egyptian princess mummy which may have inspired Stoker to write the
horror novel Horror is a genre of speculative fiction that is intended to disturb, frighten, or scare an audience. Horror is often divided into the sub-genres of psychological horror and supernatural horror. Literary historian J. A. Cuddon, in 1984, defi ...
''
The Jewel of Seven Stars ''The Jewel of Seven Stars'' is a horror novel by Irish writer Bram Stoker, first published by Heinemann in 1903. The story is a first-person narrative of a young man pulled into an archaeologist's plot to revive Queen Tera, an ancient Egyptia ...
'' (1903). Elliot established the Elliot Home for Seamen, in Temple Street, Newport, Monmouthshire in 1886 managed by the Mission to Seamen charity. In 1889 he donated the stained glass window of the Baptism, Resurrection and Ascension to All Saints' Church, Penshaw, in memory of his brothers and son. Sir George Elliot died at his house, 17
Portland Place Portland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London. Named after the 3rd Duke of Portland, the unusually wide street is home to the BBC's headquarters Broadcasting House, the Chinese and Polish embassies, the Royal Insti ...
, London, on 23 December 1893. The obituary in ''The Times'' claimed 'the public loses in him a man who had the capacity to place himself at the head of important movements and the energy and industry to continue to direct them with success during a lifetime which has lasted for nearly 80 years.'Obituary: Sir George Elliot ''The Times'' 25 December 1893, 4 His second son, George William Elliot, then MP for Richmond, Yorkshire, succeeded to the baronetcy.


References


Sources


George Elliot
''Grace’s guide to British industrial history''. Accessed 18 June 2016 * Griffin, C
Elliot, Sir George, first baronet (1814–1893)
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004. Accessed 12 June 2016. (Available online on subscription and through public libraries.)
''History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications''
* Lanagan, Paul; (2004). ''Houghton Hillside Cemetery Guide Book & Map'', Houghton-le-Spring. * Obituary: Sir George Elliot ''The Times'' 25 December 1893, 4 * Obituary: Sir George Elliot ''Minutes of Proceedings, Institution of Civil Engineers'' v116 1894, 355-357 * Sir George Elliot ''Engineer'' 29 December 1893, 617

''Houghton Heritage''. Accessed 18 June 2016. * Rushford, Frank H; (1950). ''Houghton-le-Spring: a History'', Durham


External links



Atlantic Cable Pioneer

at Houghton-le-Spring Hillside Cemetery

at Houghton Hall * {{DEFAULTSORT:Elliot, George, 1st Baronet 1814 births 1893 deaths British mining engineers People from Gateshead Businesspeople from Tyne and Wear Conservative Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies 1 UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1886–1892 People from Whitby 19th-century English businesspeople