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Granville Elliott

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Granville Elliott
with permission from
The Eliot Sisters Collection
AllegianceElector Palatine of the Rhine, States-General of the Netherlands, Great Britain
Service / branchArmy
RankMajor General
Battles / warsBattle of Minden
AwardsGraf Eliot von Port-Eliot, Comte de Merhange
Granville Elliott
(1713-1759)
with permission from
The Eliot Archives
Granville Elliott
(1713-1759)
with permission from
The Eliot Archives

Major-General Granville Elliott (1713-10-07 – 1759-10-10), (General, Graf Eliot von Port-Eliot, Comte de Morhange) was a British military officer. He served with distinction in several other European armies and subsequently in the British Army.

Early life

Elliott was born at Byfeld House, Church Road, Barnes, Surrey to Major-General Roger Elliott (c. 1665 – 1714-05-15) and his wife Charlotte (née Elliot, c. 1692 - c. 1753). He was baptised on 1713-10-27 at St Mary the Virgin's Church, Barnes. His godparents were George Granville, 1st Baron Lansdowne and Mrs Killigrew.

When Granville was less than one year old, his father died and Granville was brought up by his mother and her new husband, Captain Thomas Burroughs. Later that decade, he was made a ward of his mother's younger brother Colonel William Elliot (c. 1704 – 1764). In 1725, Granville was admitted to Dr Dunster's Academy in Little Marlborough Street, London, and in 1730 he matriculated as a Law Student at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.

Continental European Military career

By 1732, Granville was in the service of the HM Karl Philipp von Pfalz-Neuburg, Elector Palatine of the Rhine. On 1735-03-07, ahead of Granville's marriage on 1735-03-15 at Mannheim to Jeanne Thérèse du Han, Comtesse de Martigny (1707-10-30 - 1748-05-07), he was created a Chambellan in the Elector's army and raised to the title of Comte de Morhange (which is in the Moselle region). To facilitate the marriage, Granville converted to Catholicism, and took the forename Joseph, which caused him problems with his mother's Calvinist relatives. In August 1736, he and his mother swore oaths at the College of Arms in London that the Elliott family descended from a legal marriage of Richard Eliot (b. 1614 - unknown), the wayward second son of Sir John Eliot (1592 - 1632) to Catherine Killigrew (1617 - 1689), daughter of Sir Robert Killigrew (1580 - 1633) and Mary Woodhouse (CIR 1584 - 1655). However, the two oaths differed in some details, and no independent evidence for any marriage of Richard has ever come to light. Moreover, Catherine Killigrew was still described as spinster in 1655 when she executed her mother's will. As a result, Granville was not recognised by the College of Arms as a legitimate relative of the then Lord Eliot of Port Eliot in Cornwall, ancestors of the present Earls of St Germans. Nevertheless, Granville Elliott had a pedigree drawn up (which survives today) and formally presented to him in Paris by the British Ambassador / Plenipotentiary. As a result of this device, Granville became known at the Elector's Court as Comte Eliot de Port-Eliot, and Graf Eliot von Port-Eliot.

On 1736-10-29, Granville was promoted to the rank of Colonel, taking over the colonelcy of the Carabinier Regiment on 1737-02-01, and the Dragoons Regiment on 1738-07-10. In 1737, Granville was appointed Cavalry General of the States-General of the Netherlands, the legislature of the Dutch Republic. A few years later, he was working at Lunéville, at the court of the exiled King Stanislaus I of Poland who had become Duke of Lorraine and Bar. In 1745, he was appointed Major-General of Cavalry for the Elector Palatine. On 1745-04-22, he was promoted to Major-General; on 1746-06-24, to Lieutenant-General of Cavalry, and, on 1748-11-02, to Lieutenant-General of Cavalry for the States-General of the Netherlands.

Granville and his wife appeared regularly in the Madame de Graffigny correspondence, usually under his baptised name Joseph or his familiar name Cotoco. His wife died on 1748-05-07, and this caused a substantial change of direction for Granville. He left his first family with their French relatives, returned to the UK, forsook his Catholicism and repaired the bridges with his mother's relatives. Granville did not apparently contact his French family subsequently although there was no known ill-will between them.

British Military Career

Back in the UK, he remarried, on 1750-09-03, to Elizabeth Duckett (1724-06-25 - October 1804) at St Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street, London. However, he soon returned to the service of the Estates-General of the Netherlands, and the first child of his second marriage was born in the Netherlands although later children would be born at their home in Kew.

On his return to the UK, he was appointed Major-General of the Scotch Brigade. On 1757-04-21, he became Colonel and Major-General of the British 61st Foot Regiment - The Glorious Glosters. That summer, he was a Staff Officer on the army expedition to St Malo, and, from 1758-07-05 to 1758-08-31, he received a short-term commission as Colonel and Lieutenant-General in the Dutch Army. The Seven Years' War was approaching, and Granville's knowledge of continental warfare was significant. In early 1759, he returned to continental Europe, as part of a massive British army deployment. At the Battle of Minden, on 1759-08-01, he commanded the Cavalry Regiment under John Manners, Marquess of Granby. Manners was himself second in command to Sir George Sackville, who was later cashiered for his inaction at the battle. Despite this chain of command, Granville Elliott saw significant action in battle, and was seriously wounded. He retired to convalesce at army headquarters in Rodheim an der Bieber, Gießen, Hesse, Germany, but died there 9 weeks later on 1759-10-10 from the wounds incurred. He is buried in the local 13th Century church. A brass commemorative plaque was erected during the 20th century by his British descendants in the church.

Light Cavalry was introduced into the British Army as a direct result of advice from General Granville Elliott.

Family

Granville married twice.

Firstly, on 1735-03-15 at Mannheim, to Jeanne Thérèse du Han, Comtesse de Martigny (1707-10-30-1748-05-07), by whom he had at least six sons and a daughter:

Secondly, on 1750-09-03 at St Mary Magdalen, Old Fish Street, to Elizabeth Duckett (1724-06-25 - October 1804), by whom he had at least three sons and three daughters. Elizabeth was the niece of Sir George Duckett.

Of these Francis Perceval Eliot and his children continued the family's close connection with the Army. Francis also re-established contact with his French half-siblings.

References

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