Charles Elliot

Admiral Sir Charles Elliot (15 August 1801 – 9 September 1875) was a British Royal Navy officer, diplomat, and colonial administrator. He became the first Administrator of Hong Kong in 1841 while serving as both Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent of British Trade in China. He was a key founder in the establishment of Hong Kong as a British colony.

Born in Dresden, Saxony, Elliot joined the Royal Navy in 1815 and served as a midshipman in the bombardment of Algiers against Barbary pirates the following year. After serving in the East Indies Station for four years, he joined the Home Station in 1820. He joined the West Africa Squadron and became a lieutenant in 1822. After serving in the West Indies Station, he was promoted to captain in 1828. He met Clara Windsor in Haiti and they married in 1828.

After retiring from active naval service, Elliot followed a career in the Foreign Office. From 1830 to 1833, he was Protector of Slaves in Guiana. In 1834, he went to China as Master Attendant to the staff of Chief Superintendent Lord Napier. He became Plenipotentiary and Chief Superintendent from 1836 to 1841. From 1842 to 1846, Elliot was chargé d'affaires and consul general in the Republic of Texas. He served as Governor of Bermuda (1846–54), Governor of Trinidad (1854–56), and Governor of Saint Helena (1863–70). He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1856.

Early life Elliot was born in Dresden, Saxony, on 15 August 1801 to Margaret and Hugh Elliot. He was one of nine children. His uncle was Scottish diplomat Gilbert Elliott, 1st Earl of Minto. In July 1816, he became a midshipman on board HMS Minden, He then served in the East Indies Station for four years under Sir Richard King. In 1820, he joined the cutter Starling under Lieutenant-Commander John Reeve in the Home Station, and HMS Queen Charlotte under James Whitshed. He was brought home to advise the government of administrative problems relating to the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. He was appointed Secretary in October 1834, Third Superintendent in January 1835, and Second Superintendent in April 1835. In 1836, the office of Chief Superintendent was abolished and its duties were transferred to the newly created Chief of the commission. Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston appointed Elliot to this post, however Elliot continued to use the title of "Chief Superintendent" in his official correspondence. On 16 November 1839, Elliot wrote to Palmerston regarding the opium trade: "No man entertains a deeper detestation of the disgrace and sin of this forced traffic on the coast of China. I have steadily discountenanced it by all the lawful means in my power, and at the total sacrifice of my private comfort in the society in which I have lived for some years past."

In March 1839, Lin Zexu in Canton demanded European merchants surrender their opium. When they refused, he quarantined them and surrounded their factories. Captain Elliot arrived with 20,283 chests of British opium, valued at £2,000,000. Merchants, believing Elliot would safeguard it, were appalled when he surrendered it to Lin. Elliot claimed he acted for the quarantined British community. After confiscating the opium, Lin ordered all merchants involved in the trade to leave China. Elliot and the merchants complied when the situation was very tense, and Lin subsequently destroyed the opium by dumping it into Canton Bay. In order to make the obstinate merchants comply with the order, Elliot promised the merchants British government compensation when he had no authority to do so. The joke among the happy opium merchants was that Queen Victoria was now the biggest buyer of their opium. Thus the Parliament later disagreed, believing China should pay any reparations. Frustrated by the lack of compensation, William Jardine, who had left Canton before Lin's arrival, began planning to force compensation from China through warfare, aiming to sway public and government opinion in Britain.

During the First Opium War, he was on board the East India Company steamer Nemesis during most of the battles. However, Palmerston recalled Elliot and, accusing him of disobedience and treating his instructions as "waste paper", dismissed him. Henry Pottinger was appointed to replace him as plenipotentiary in May 1841. On 29 July, HMS Phlegeton arrived in Hong Kong with dispatches informing Elliot of the news. Pottinger arrived in Macao on 10 August, and announced two days later that Elliot's arrangements with Hong Kong would remain in place. On 24 August, Elliot left Macao with his family for England. As he embarked on the Atlanta, a Portuguese fort fired a 13-gun salute. Responding to the accusation that "It has been particularly objected to me that I have cared too much for the Chinese", Elliot wrote to Foreign Secretary Lord Aberdeen on 25 June 1842:

But I submit that it has been caring more for lasting British honour and substantial British interests, to protect friendly and helpful people, and to return the confidence of the great trading population of the Southern Provinces, with which it is our chief purpose to cultivate more intimate, social and commercial relations.

Later life

On 23 August 1842, Elliot arrived in the Republic of Texas, where he was chargé d'affaires and consul general until 1846. He worked for the abolition of slavery, the establishment of free trade, and a peace treaty between Texas and Mexico. Since an independent Texas would be advantageous to the United Kingdom, Elliot campaigned against annexation by the United States. However, the Texans voted for annexation and he was recalled to England.

Elliot served as Governor of Bermuda from 1846 to 1854. He supported the implementation of the mark system by penal reformer Alexander Maconochie in the Bermuda hulks. He later served as Governor of Trinidad from 1854 to 1856 and Governor of Saint Helena from 1863 to 1870. In St. Helena, Elliot supported botanist Joseph Hooker's plan to culture the Cinchona plant on mountainous parts of the island. A gardener was sent from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Cinchona plantations soon sprang up near Diana's Peak.

In the retired list, he was promoted to rear-admiral on 2 May 1855, vice-admiral on 15 January 1862, and admiral on 12 September 1865. In Sir Henry Taylor's play, Edwin the Fair (1842), the character Earl Athulf was based on Elliot. Taylor also mentioned Elliot in his poem, "Heroism in the Shade" (1845). Elliot was made a Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1856. He is buried in the churchyard of St John in the Wilderness, Exmouth. The weathered headstone inscription to his grave reads in worn lead lettering: "To the memory of / Adm Sir Charles Elliot KCB / Born 15th August 1801 / Died 9th September 1875 / The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God".

Marriage and family

During Elliot's naval service in the West Indies, he met Clara Genevieve Windsor (1806–1885) in Haiti, where she was born and raised. They married in 1828, and had two daughters and three sons:

Harriet Agnes Elliot (1829–1896); married Edward Russell, 23rd Baron de Clifford, in 1853; four children. Hugh Hislop Elliot (1831–1861); Captain 1st Bombay Light Cavalry; married Louise Sidonie Perrin on 15 March 1860 in Byculla, Bombay; no known children; died at sea and memorialised in St James Cathedral, St Helena. Gilbert Wray Elliot (1833–1910); Bombay Civil Service; married three times, one child to each marriage;

Namesakes Elliot's Vale; renamed Glenealy, Central, Hong Kong Elliot Island, Chusan Archipelago, China (the name endured in maps into the 20th century ) Port Elliot, South Australia