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Major General 'Roger Elliott' (CIR 1665 - May 15 1714) was one of the earliest British Governors of Gibraltar. His nephew George Augustus Eliott also became a noted Governor and defender of Gibraltar.
Roger Elliott was born, possibly in London but more probably in the Tangier Garrison in Morocco, to George Elliott (CIR 1636 - 1668, the Chirurgeon to the Garrison) and his wife Catherine Maxwell (CIR 1638 - 1709). George Elliott was the illegitimate son of Richard Eliot, the wayward second son of Sir John Eliot (1592 - 1632).
Roger's father, George Elliott, died at the Tangier Garrison in 1668 and his widowed mother remarried there on February 22 1670 to Robert Spotswood (September 17 1637 - 1680, the assistant and replacement Chirurgeon at the Garrison), and thirdly to Rev Dr George Mercer (the Garrison schoolmaster). Roger was therefore an older half-brother to Alexander Spotswood (c. 1676 - June 6 1740), who would become a noted Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia.

Contents

Military career

Gibraltar

Return to England

Family

References

Military career

By 1680, Roger was an Ensign in the Tangier Regiment of Foot, and was wounded on October 27 fighting the local Moors. In 1681, he was suspended by Colonel Percy Kirke for duelling with Ensign Bartholomew Pitts, later being cashiered for this offence. He was sent back to England in 1682 with a letter begging for his readmission into His Majesty's Service, and he was reinstated as an Ensign in his old Company on March 8 1683. In 1684 he returned to England and probably fought against the Monmouth Rebellion.
By 1685, he had transferred to the Queen Dowager's Regiment of Foot, and in 1687 he became a First Lieutenant in Earl of Bath's Regiment - created by Sir John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath (1628 - 1701). He was promoted to Captain on May 1 1690. He fought and was wounded at the Battle of Steinkeerke on August 3 1692. On December 21 of that year, he was promoted to Major in the same Regiment, and, on January 1 1696, promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel of Sir Bevil Granville's Regiment of Foot. In 1702, on campaign with the Duke of Marlborough, he was shot through the body at the defence of Tongeren in Belgium. He reputedly took on the entire French Army with only two regiments, before surrendering.
On March 5 1704, he raised his own regiment - Colonel Elliott's Regiment of Foot. Officers were commissioned on April 10 that year at St James'. On July 2 1704, again on campaign with the Duke of Marlborough, he fought and was wounded at the Battle of Schellenberg. It is possible that he fought at the Battle of Blenheim on August 13 1704. However, he certainly did not lead the cavalry at this Battle, as has been maintained by other biographies - this was led by General Sir John 'Salamander' Cutts.

Gibraltar

In March 1705, Colonel Elliott's Regiment of Foot embarked for Spain and served at Gibraltar, which was declared a free port in 1706. On January 1 1707, he was promoted to Brigadier-General, and later that year to Lieutenant-Governor of Gibraltar. On December 24 he was appointed Governor of Gibraltar. His time in office is remembered in the Gibraltar records as one of mercenary opportunity; whereas, in the London records, it appears that he proceeded with expensive but vital defensive fortification with only minimal prior financial approval. The arguments over the accounts for these defences would cause problems for the probate of his personal estate. On January 1 1710, he was promoted to Major-General, and on January 24 1711, he handed over the Governorship to Brigadier-General Thomas Stanwix. He finally departed Gibraltar on June 18 1711.

Return to England

Having returned to England, he was married on March 4 1712 to Charlotte Elliot, the daughter of a rich London merchant, William 'the laceman' Elliot of Brugh and Wells. Roger bought Byfeld House in Church Road, Barnes, Surrey on June 24 1712 where the couple settled and raised a small family.
Roger Elliott never fully recovered from his various wounds and died at Byfeld House on May 15 1714. He was buried May 21 in the cemetery of St Mary the Virgin's Church, Barnes.
His will was probated on November 16 1714 but his estate took years to resolve because of the difficulties mentioned. The eventual resolution was mostly thanks to the involvement of his father-in-law, William 'the Laceman' Elliot, who sought to expedite his daughter's remarriage to Captain Thomas Burroughs.

Family

Mary Elliott, who married Garrett Fitzmaurice (d. May 1738) in Ireland, claimed to be a daughter of Roger Elliott.
On March 4 1712 at St Peter's Church, Cornhill, Roger married Charlotte Elliot (CIR 1692 - CIR 1753), the daughter of William 'the Laceman' Elliot, and they had two children:

★ Granville Elliott (October 7 1713 - October 10 1759 General, Graf von Eliot, Comte de Morhange)

★ Catherine (Kitty) Elliott (September 18 1714 - January 15 1757), who married firstly cir 1735 to Charles Boyle (of Araglin Bridge, co Cork, related to the Earls of Cork and Orrery), and secondly in 1742 to Robert Bligh, the Dean of Elphin.

References

★ PRO PC 1/2/51 Admiralty memorial concerning the rival claims to a prize ship of the Lieutenant Governor of Gibraltar (memorial dated 1707-02-05: the captured prize ship, Nostra Seigniora del Rosario, master: Francis Pujal, was disputed by Roger Elliott and the Captain and crew of HMS Carcass. The decision was to split the prize, with 1/8 going to Roger Elliott and 7/8 going to the crew)

★ PROB 10/1515 CC 2646 - Probate of Will

★ PRO C104/251 Chancery: Master Tinney's Exhibits

★ Jessica and Laura Eliot's Archive

★ Burke's Landed Gentry of Ireland

★ Burke's Irish Family Records