Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans (29 August 1798 – 7 October 1877; styled Lord Elliot from 1823 to 1845) was a British politician and diplomat.

Background and education

St Germans was born in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to ...

, Devon, the son of

William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St Germans William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St Germans (1 April 1767 – 19 January 1845), known as William Elliot until 1823, was a British diplomat and politician. Eliot was born at Port Eliot, Cornwall, the third son of Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Elio ...

and his first wife, Lady Georgina (13 April 1769 – 4 March 1806), daughter of

Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, KG PC (4 August 172126 October 1803), known as Viscount Trentham from 1746 to 1754 and as The Earl Gower from 1754 to 1786, was a British politician from the Leveson-Gower family. Background ...

. He was educated at

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

from 1809 to 1811, and matriculated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniq ...

on 13 December 1815.

Political career

St Germans became the Secretary of Legation at Madrid on 21 November 1823. He became Member of Parliament for

Liskeard Liskeard ( ; kw, Lyskerrys) is a small ancient stannary and market town in south-east Cornwall, South West England. It is situated approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of Plymouth, west of the Devon border, and 12 miles (20 km) eas ...

the following year. Beginning his career as a Tory, he remained loyal to

Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850) was a British Conservative statesman who served twice as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835 and 1841–1846) simultaneously serving as Chancellor of the Excheque ...

, and served as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from 1827 until 1830. Out of parliament between 1832 and 1837, he served in Peel's second government first as

Chief Secretary for Ireland The Chief Secretary for Ireland was a key political office in the British administration in Ireland. Nominally subordinate to the Lord Lieutenant, and officially the "Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant", from the early 19th century u ...

and later as

Postmaster General of the United Kingdom The Postmaster General of the United Kingdom was a Cabinet-level ministerial position in HM Government. Aside from maintaining the postal system, the Telegraph Act 1868 established the Postmaster General's right to exclusively maintain electr ...

. He brokered the so-called

Lord Eliot Convention The Lord Eliot Convention, or simply the Eliot Convention or Eliot Treaty ( es, Convenio Lord Eliot), was an April 1835 agreement brokered by Edward Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans between the two opposing sides of the First Carlist War. It had as ...

in Spain, which aimed to end the indiscriminate executions by firing squad of prisoners on both sides of the

First Carlist War The First Carlist War was a civil war in Spain from 1833 to 1840, the first of three Carlist Wars. It was fought between two factions over the succession to the throne and the nature of the Spanish monarchy: the conservative and devolutionist ...

. When the debate over the

Corn Laws The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They wer ...

broke the Conservative Party he followed Peel, and served as

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (), or more formally Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, was the title of the chief governor of Ireland from the Williamite Wars of 1690 until the Partition of Ireland in 1922. This spanned the King ...

Lord Aberdeen George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, (28 January 178414 December 1860), styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a British statesman, diplomat and landowner, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite politician and specialist in ...

's coalition government. In that role, he hosted the visit of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days was longer than that of any previ ...

and the Prince Consort to the 1853 Great Exhibition held in Dublin. The Queen gave Lady St Germans a gift of jewellery to mark the occasion. He was twice

Lord Steward The Lord Steward or Lord Steward of the Household is an official of the Royal Household in England. He is always a peer. Until 1924, he was always a member of the Government. Until 1782, the office was one of considerable political importance a ...

under Lord Palmerston. In 1860, he accompanied the Prince of Wales on his tour of Canada and the USA.

Family life

Lord St Germans married Lady Jemima Cornwallis (24 December 1803, Brome, Suffolk – 2 July 1856, Dover Street, London), daughter of

Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Marquess Cornwallis Charles Cornwallis, 2nd Marquess Cornwallis (19 October 1774 – 9 August 1823), styled Viscount Brome until 1805, was a British Tory politician. He served as Master of the Buckhounds between 1807 and 1823. Background Cornwallis was the only s ...

, at St James Church, Westminster, on 2 September 1824. They had six sons and two daughters: *Lady Louisa Susan Cornwallis Eliot (17 December 1825 – 15 January 1911), married Walter Ponsonby, 7th Earl of Bessborough and was the mother of Edward Ponsonby, 8th Earl of Bessborough. *Edward John Cornwallis Eliot, Lord Eliot (2 April 1827 – 26 November 1864), born in London, educated at Eton from 1839 to 1843, matriculated at

on 21 October 1844, styled ''Lord Eliot'' from January 1845, commissioned a Cornet and Sub-lieutenant,

1st Regiment of Life Guards The 1st Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards and 1st Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamated w ...

and subsequently

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of that Regiment, 1852, died unmarried at

Port Eliot Port Eliot in the parish of St Germans, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, is the ancestral seat of the Eliot family, whose present head is Albert Eliot, 11th Earl of St Germans. Port Eliot comprises a stately home with its own church, which ...

. *Captain Granville Charles Cornwallis Eliot (9 September 1828 – 5 November 1854), officer

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...

, killed at the

Battle of Inkerman The Battle of Inkerman was fought during the Crimean War on 5 November 1854 between the allied armies of Britain and France against the Imperial Russian Army. The battle broke the will of the Russian Army to defeat the allies in the field, an ...

. * William Gordon Cornwallis Eliot, 4th Earl of St Germans (14 December 1829 – 19 March 1881) *Ernest Cornwallis Eliot (28 April 1831 – 23 January 1832) *Lady Elizabeth Harriet Cornwallis Eliot (September 1833 – 16 March 1835) * Henry Cornwallis Eliot, 5th Earl of St Germans (11 February 1835 – 24 September 1911) *Colonel Charles George Cornwallis Eliot, CVO (16 October 1839 – 22 May 1901), courtier and soldier, married on 26 October 1865 Constance Rhiannon Guest, daughter of Sir John Josiah Guest, Bt and

Lady Charlotte Guest Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest (née Bertie; 19 May 1812 – 15 January 1895), later Lady Charlotte Schreiber, was an English aristocrat who is best known as the first publisher in modern print format of the ''Mabinogion'', the earliest prose li ...

, succeeded

Roden Noel Roden is a name of Germanic origin, originally meaning "red valley" or an anglicization of the Gaelic name "O'Rodain". It may refer to: Places * Roden, Bavaria, a town in the Main-Spessart district of Bavaria, Germany * Roden, Netherlands, a tow ...

as a

Groom of the Bedchamber Groom of the Chamber was a position in the Household of the monarch in early modern England. Other ''Ancien Régime'' royal establishments in Europe had comparable officers, often with similar titles. In France, the Duchy of Burgundy, and in En ...

1871 to 1899, then replaced by Sir Francis Knollys and succeeded Alpin McGregor as a Gentleman Usher Daily Waiter to

. Lord St Germans died at St Germans on 7 October 1877, aged 79.GRO Register of Deaths:DEC 1877 5c 29 ST GERMANS Edward Granville Eliot, aged 79 He was the great-grandfather of Margaret Eliot (1914–2011), the mother of Peter and

Jane Asher Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)The International Who's Who of Women, 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and has worked extensively in f ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Germans, Eliot, Edward, 3rd Earl Of Lords Lieutenant of Ireland Deputy Lieutenants of Cornwall Earls of St Germans Politicians from Plymouth, Devon Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath United Kingdom Postmasters General Eliot, Edward People educated at Westminster School, London Eliot, Edward Eliot, Edward Eliot, Edward Eliot, Edward Eliot, Edward Saint Germans, E3 1798 births 1877 deaths Edward Granville Eliot Chief Secretaries for Ireland