Regency Personalities Series-Edward Craggs-Eliot 1st Baron Eliot

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Edward Craggs-Eliot 1st Baron Eliot
8 July 1727 – 17 February 1804

Edward Craggs-Eliot

Edward Craggs-Eliot 1st Baron Eliot was born to Richard Eliot and Harriot Craggs, the illegitimate daughter of the Privy Counsellor and Secretary of State, James Craggs and Hester Santlow, the noted actress.

In 1742, he matriculated at St Mary Hall, Oxford but did not graduate. During 1747–1748, he travelled in Continental Europe, principally the Dutch Republic, Germany and Switzerland. On 19 November 1748 he succeeded his father. From 1748–1768 he was Member of Parliament for St Germans, Cornwall, the place of his family estate Port Eliot. In succession, he became Member of Parliament (MP) for Liskeard (1768–1774), for St Germans (1774–1775), and for Cornwall (1775–1784).

In 1751, Edward was appointed Receiver General of the Duchy of Cornwall. From 1760 until 1776, Edward was one of the eight Commissioners of Trade and Plantations, and in 1775 he again became Receiver General of the Duchy. However, in 1776 he notably voted against the employment of Hessian Troops, and resigned from the Board of Trade and Plantations, and from the government.

On 13 January 1784 he raised to the peerage as Baron Eliot, of St Germans in the County of Cornwall, and he took his seat in the House of Lords on 2 February 1784. In 1789 he changed his surname from Eliot to Craggs-Eliot, presumably to prevent the extinction of the Craggs surname. However, his children generally used the surname Eliot.

Eliot was an acquaintance of Dr Samuel Johnson and a patron of Sir Joshua Reynolds.

Edward married on 25 September 1756 at St James’ Church, Westminster, to Catherine Elliston (September 1735 – 23 February 1804), daughter of Captain Edward Elliston and Catherine Gibbon, the aunt of Edward Gibbon, with four children:

1. Edward James Eliot (9 August 1757 – September 1757)
2. Edward James Eliot (24 August 1758 – 20 September 1797)
3. John Eliot, 1st Earl of St Germans (30 September 1761 – 17 November 1823)
4. William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St Germans (1 April 1767 – 19 January 1845)

Eliot died at his Port Eliot estate on 17 February 1804, and was buried at St Germans, Cornwall

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Regency Personalities Series-Edward James Eliot

Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.

Edward James Eliot
24 August 1758 – 20 September 1797

Edward James Eliot

Eliot was born in Cornwall, the son of Edward Craggs-Eliot (1727–1804), politician, created Baron Eliot in 1784.

Edward James went to Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1775, becoming friends with the future Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, and was awarded MA in 1780. He was elected Member of Parliament for St Germans, Cornwall from 1780 and for Liskeard from 1784. He soon became a Treasury minister from 1782, and was a member of the government of the Younger Pitt from 1783, being appointed King’s Remembrancer in the Exchequer of pleas in 1785.

He married Harriot Pitt, the younger daughter of William Pitt the Elder and sister to the Younger Pitt, in 1785. One year later, and five days after the birth of their only child, a daughter named Harriot Hester, Eliot’s wife died from childbirth complications. Eliot never recovered from the grief of losing his wife.

After Harriot’s death, Eliot moved to Broomfield, near Clapham, where he came into contact with the Clapham Sect of evangelical reformers, whose cause he espoused. He had been a friend of William Wilberforce for some years, and the pair of them had accompanied Pitt to France. Now he found himself living close to Wilberforce and other leading members of the group dubbed ‘the Saints’.

He began to take an active part in their reforming causes, including the abolition of the slave trade, prison reform and poor relief, the Proclamation Society, and Bishop Porteus’ Sunday Observance bill. He was active in lobbying the cause of the Clapham Sect in parliament and acted as a mediator between Wilberforce and Pitt in their campaigns.

In 1793, having resigned from the Treasury on health grounds, Eliot was appointed joint commissioner for Indian affairs. He became an investor in the British East India Company stock, and was expected to become governor-general of Bengal. However, he suffered from a recurring chronic stomach disorder which made it impossible for him to take up that office.

Eliot died at Port Eliot, Cornwall on 17 September 1797, and was buried at St Germans on 26 September 1797.

He had remained close to Pitt and Wilberforce, who both lamented his passing. His brother John succeeded to the barony and in 1815 was created Earl of St Germans.

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