Sir Charles Abraham Elton, 6th Baronet (31 October 1778 – 1 June 1853) was an English officer in the British Army and an author.

Life

Charles was eldest of three sons of the Rev Sir Abraham Elton, 5th of the

Elton baronets The Elton Baronetcy, of Bristol, is a title in the Baronetage of Great Britain. It was created on 31 October 1717 for Abraham Elton, Mayor of and Member of Parliament for Bristol from 1722 to 1727. The second Baronet was also Mayor of Bristol ...

, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Durbin, alderman of Bristol, and was born at Bristol on 31 October 1778. He was educated at Eton, and at the age of fifteen received a commission in the

48th Regiment of Foot The 48th (Northamptonshire) Regiment of Foot was a regiment of the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 58th (Rutlandshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Northamptonshire Regiment in 1881. History Early h ...

, in which he rose to the rank of captain. He served with the

4th Regiment of Foot Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'', a 1972 Soviet drama ...

in the Flanders Campaign under

Frederick, Duke of York Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany (Frederick Augustus; 16 August 1763 – 5 January 1827) was the second son of George III, King of the United Kingdom and Hanover, and his consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A soldier by professi ...

. He was afterwards lieutenant-colonel of the Somersetshire Militia. On the death of his father (23 February 1842) he became 6th baronet. Elton was friends with

Charles Lamb Charles Lamb (10 February 1775 – 27 December 1834) was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his '' Essays of Elia'' and for the children's book '' Tales from Shakespeare'', co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb (1764� ...

and

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

. He was a strong Whig, and spoke at the Westminster hustings on behalf of

Samuel Romilly Sir Samuel Romilly (1 March 1757 – 2 November 1818) was a British lawyer, Whigs (British political party), Whig politician, abolitionist and legal reformer. Born in London of French Huguenot descent, he was largely self-educated and escaped p ...

and John Hobhouse; but latterly he lived much in retirement at his house,

Clevedon Court Clevedon Court is a manor house on Court Hill in Clevedon, North Somerset, England, dating from the early 14th century. It is owned by the National Trust and is designated as a Grade I listed building. The house was built and added to over man ...

. He died at Bath on 1 June 1853.

Bibliography

Elton's published works were: # ''Poems'', 1804. # ''Remains of

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

, translated into English verse''. # ''Tales of Romance, and other Poems, including selections from

Propertius Sextus Propertius was a Latin elegiac poet of the Augustan age. He was born around 50–45 BC in Assisium (now Assisi) and died shortly after 15 BC. Propertius' surviving work comprises four books of '' Elegies'' ('). He was a friend of the ...

'', 1810. # ''Specimens of the Classical Poets in a chronological series from

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

Tryphiodorus Tryphiodorus (; 3rd or 4th century AD) was an epic poet from Panopolis (today Akhmim), Egypt. His only surviving work is ''The Sack of Troy'', an epic poem in 691 verses. Other recorded titles include ''Marathoniaca'' and ''The Story of Hippodam ...

, translated into English verse'', 1814 (with critical observations prefixed to each specimen; reviewed in the ''Quarterly Review'', xiii. 151–8). # ''Remains of Hesiod, translated... with notes'', 1815 (''by C. A. E''.) # ''Appeal to Scripture and Tradition in Defence of the

Unitarian Faith Unitarian or Unitarianism may refer to: Christian and Christian-derived theologies A Unitarian is a follower of, or a member of an organisation that follows, any of several theologies referred to as Unitarianism: * Unitarianism (1565–present) ...

'' (anon.), 1818. # ''The Brothers, a Monody eferring to the death of his sons and other Poems'', 1820. # ''History of Roman Emperors'', 1825. # ''Δεύτερας Φροντιδες: Second Thoughts on the Person of Christ, on Human Sin, and on the Atonement, containing reasons for the Author's Secession from the Unitarian Communion and his Adherence to that of the Established Church'', 1827.

Family

Elton married in 1804 Sarah, eldest daughter of

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thou ...

, merchant of Bristol, by whom he had five sons and eight daughters. The two eldest sons were drowned in 1819, while bathing near Birnbeck Island,

Weston-super-Mare Weston-super-Mare ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the North Somerset unitary district, in the county of Somerset, England. It lies by the Bristol Channel south-west of Bristol between Worlebury Hill and Bleadon Hill. Its population ...

. The third, Arthur Hallam Elton (born 19 April 1818), succeeded to the baronetcy, and died 14 October 1883. The fifth son, Rev. Henry George Tierney Elton, was Vicar of West Hatch, Somerset, and married Georgina Flora Willis, dying in 1905 having had issue. Elton's fourth daughter, Laura Mary (died 1848) married Charles Samuel Grey (1811-16), Paymaster of the Civil Services in Ireland and second son of Sir George Grey, 1st Baronet Grey of Fallodon, with whom she had five children. His seventh daughter, Mary Elizabeth, was mother of

Charles Isaac Elton Charles Isaac Elton, QC (6 December 1839 – 23 April 1900) was an English lawyer, antiquary, and politician. He is most famous for being one of the authors of the bestselling book '' The Great Book-Collectors''. Biography He was born in So ...

(an M.P. and author of ''Origins of English History''). The eighth daughter, Jane Octavia, married

William Henry Brookfield William Henry Brookfield (31 August 1809 – 12 July 1874) was an Anglican priest, Inspector of Schools, and chaplain-in-ordinary to Queen Victoria.. His son was the playwright Charles Brookfield. Biography William Henry Brookfield was th ...

. Elton's sister, Julia Maria, married

Henry Hallam Henry Hallam (9 July 1777 – 21 January 1859) was an English historian. Educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, he practised as a barrister on the Oxford circuit for some years before turning to history. His major works were ''View of th ...

the historian.

Notes

References

* * * * Attribution * Endnotes: **''Gentleman's Magazine'' 1853. ii. 88, 89; **Foster's and Burke's ''Baronetages''.

External links

* Read and/or download Elton'
verse translation of ''Hesiod''
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...