William Elliot of Wells

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

William Elliot of Wells (1696 – 1764) was an army officer, courtier, and Member of Parliament during the reign of George II.

The son of William Elliot of Wells (know to posterity as the "Laceman", from the trade in which he made his fortune), the younger William was christened January 17, 1696 at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster. He entered the army in 1722 as a cornet in the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards, and in the following year joined Charles Churchill's Regiment of Dragoons as a captain. While serving under Col. Churchill, Elliot witnessed the will of Churchill's mistress, the celebrated actress Anne Oldfield, and was one of the pallbearers at her funeral in 1730.

In 1737, Elliot was commissioned as major of the 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards, of which he was made lieutenant-colonel in 1741. He fought at both Dettingen and Fontenoy, but resigned his commission in 1746. His sister's son, George Augustus Eliott (later Lord Heathfield, defender of Gibraltar), was one of his subordinate officers in the 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards.

In 1741, Elliot was elected as a Whig Member of Parliament (MP) for Calne, Wiltshire (which seat he held until 1754). Subseqeuntly, in 1743, he was made one of the equerries to George II, and served until the king’s death in 1760.

Elliot inherited his father's estate of Wells, in Roxburghshire, in 1728.

While still a captain in Churchill's dragoons, Elliot married--against her father's wishes--Lady Frances de Nassau d’Auverquerque, elder daughter of the Earl of Grantham, at St Benet Paul's Wharf, London, in 1737. They had no surviving children.

Elliot died in 1764 and was buried in St James's Church, Piccadilly, Westminster. Lady Frances Elliot died in 1772, and was buried with him.

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by William Duckett and Walter Hungerford	Member of Parliament for Calne (with Walter Hungerford, 1741–1747; with William Northey, 1747–1754) 1741–1754	Succeeded by William Northey and Thomas Duckett

[edit] References

• Romney Sedgwick, ed., The History of Parliament: The Commons 1715-1754 (London, 1971).