Edward Carlyon Eliot, (18 April 1870 – 1 January 1940) was a British

Colonial Service The Colonial Service, also known as His/Her Majesty's Colonial Service and replaced in 1954 by Her Majesty's Overseas Civil Service (HMOCS), was the British government service that administered most of Britain's overseas possessions, under the aut ...

administrator.

Personal

Eliot was the son of Edward Eliot and Elizabeth Harriette (née Watling), and described as a neat, slim man of medium height with very black hair. His brother was Charles Eliot, who was Commissioner for British East Africa and Ambassador to Japan. Edward married, first, Clara Frances Paterson on 6 June 1899; and, second, Alice Marion Shand, granddaughter of Henry Alfred Alford Nicholls, in 1927, with whom he had a son, David, in 1935.

Career

*1888-1892 Cattle ranching in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

*1893-1895 Sugar planting in

Demerara Demerara ( nl, Demerary, ) is a historical region in the Guianas, on the north coast of South America, now part of the country of Guyana. It was a colony of the Dutch West India Company between 1745 and 1792 and a colony of the Dutch state f ...

*1895 Entered the Colonial Service. Among the posts he held were: ::1907-10 Provincial Commissioner,

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali ...

::1911-13 Commissioner and Warden of

Tobago Tobago () is an island and ward within the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It is located northeast of the larger island of Trinidad and about off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. It also lies to the southeast of Grenada. The offic ...

::1913-1919

Resident Commissioner Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates (such ...

Gilbert and Ellice Islands The Gilbert and Ellice Islands (GEIC as a colony) in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony w ...

Colony ::1916-17 Private secretary (temporary) to the Governor-General
of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

::1921-22 Acting Chief Secretary and Deputy Governor of

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...

::1922 Acting Governor of

::1923-31 Administrator of Dominica During his time in the

he worked to improve conditions involved in the mining of phosphates. :Eliot ��was struggling at the time of our arrival to improve the conditions that governed the mining of phosphate on Ocean Island. His aims were to secure for the Banaban villagers an increase of the tonnage-royalties paid into a trust fund for their phosphate, and to set up guards against the premature encroachment of the diggings upon their villages. He won his fight eventually in the teeth of much official misunderstanding. Fifteen years later, as Resident Commissioner myself, I was called to add a little to the foundations he had laid, and others added more after me. But it was mainly due to his courage and foresight between 1913 and 1920 that the Banabans of 1945 found themselves in a position to buy an exquisite new home for themselves in the Fiji group and to migrate there in their own good time. Eliot was appointed CBE in the 1931 New Year Honours List

Selected works

Eliot's published writings encompass two works in three publications in one language and 56 library holdings. * ''Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate. Report for 1912-1914: Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty.'' June, 1915. * ''Address to Legislative Council of Dominica'' (1928) * ''Broken Atoms'' (1938) * ''Ocean Island Affairs: Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate (later Colony), 1913-20.'' (1938) ;Journals * *

Notes

References

* *

External links

* National Archives
Eliot, Edward Carlyon
1870 births 1940 deaths Colonial Administrative Service officers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Governors of Dominica Governors of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands {{UK-diplomat-stub