Edward James Eliot

Edward James Eliot (24 August 1758 – 20 September 1797) was an English Member of Parliament.

Life Eliot was born in Cornwall, the son of Catherine (c.1735–1804), daughter and heir of Edward Elliston of Gestingthorpe, Essex, an East India Company captain, and Edward Craggs-Eliot (1727–1804), politician, created Baron Eliot in 1784.

He went to Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1775, becoming friends with the future Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, and graduated with an 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.

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. 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.