Monarch Queen Victoria Nationality British Spouse Jemima Cornwallis Role British Politician | Preceded by The Earl of Eglinton Name Edward 3rd | |
Born 29 August 1798
Plymouth, Devon ( 1798-08-29 ) Died October 7, 1877, St Germans, Cornwall, United Kingdom Parents William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St Germans Education Christ Church, Oxford, Westminster School Grandparents Edward Craggs-Eliot, 1st Baron Eliot | ||
Prime Minister The Earl of Aberdeen Succeeded by The Earl of Carlisle Political party Tory
Peelite
Liberal Great-grandparents Hester Santlow | ||
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.
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Background and education
St Germans was born in Plymouth, Devon, the son of William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St Germans and his first wife, Lady Georgina (13 April 1769 – 4 March 1806), daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford. He was educated at Westminster School from 1809–1811, and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford 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 the following year. Beginning his career as a Tory, he remained loyal to Robert Peel, 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 and later as Postmaster General of the United Kingdom. He brokered the so-called Lord Eliot Convention in Spain, which aimed to end the indiscriminate executions by firing squad of prisoners of both sides of the First Carlist War. When the debate over the Corn Laws broke the Conservative Party he followed Peel, and served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in Lord Aberdeen's coalition government. He was twice Lord Steward 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, at St James Church, Westminster, on 2 September 1824. They had six sons and two daughters:
Lord St Germans died at St Germans on 7 October 1877, aged 79. He was the great-grandfather of Margaret Eliot (1914–2011), the mother of Peter and Jane Asher.