(1751 - 1814), e. s. of Sir Gilbert Elliot of Minto, Rox.; educ. Fontainebleau mil. acad., Edinburgh U. and Ch.Ch. Oxf. 1768; L.Inn 1769, called 1774; MP 1776 - 84, 1786 - 95; suc. fa. 1777 as 4th Bt.; m. 1777 Anna Maria Amyand (1752 - 1829); suc. mo. 1778 to estates and took additional names of Murray Kynynmound; civil comm. Toulon 1793; viceroy of Corsica 1794 - 6; cr. B. Minto 1797; env. to Vienna 1799 - 1801; FRS 1802; gov. gen. India 1806 - 13; cr. E. of Minto 1813.
1794 - 7 Leghorn (30 Jan. - Mar. 1794 - ), Florence, Milan, [Corsica, Jun. 1794 - 26 Oct. 1796] Naples (Oct. - Nov.), Rome (by 25 Dec. 1796 - Jan. 1797), Naples (by 12 - 15 Jan. 1797), Porto Ferraio (22 Jan.) [Plymouth 5 Mar.]
Sir Gilbert Elliot went to Leghorn and Florence in January 1794 to negotiate the accommodation in Tuscany of the thousands of Toulonese who had taken refuge with the British fleet when their city was recaptured by the French.1 He was then corresponding with Sir John Coxe Hippisley at Rome in the hope of arranging for some of the refugees to be received into the Papal states. After six weeks he joined the British fleet off S.Fiorenzo.
He returned to the mainland in April 1794 to act on behalf of the British government with the object 'of confederating the Italian powers in a system of General defence'. He conferred in Milan and Florence on this ultimately depressing subject, to discover that the difficulty of federation lay 'in the character of the men who hold the first rank in Italy ... Skilful on small occasions, they are helpless in great ones'. In May he was recalled to Corsica by the news of its capture from the French by British forces under Admiral Hood, and at Corte on 19 June he received the island crown on behalf of George III from General Paoli. The island was of considerable strategic importance for the British fleet and Elliot remained as viceroy while the island was annexed by Great Britain.
At the end of 1794 he was joined by his wife and children, who made two visits to the mainland on their own in the summer of 1795 to the baths at Lucca. They were again on the mainland in the summer of 1796, but their stay in Pisa was cut short by the advance of the French armies into Tuscany. Returning hurriedly to Leghorn they sailed for Corsica on 25 June within hours of the French entry into the town. Later in 1796 Lady Elliot and her children visited Naples, where they had friendly and informal meetings with the Queen Maria Carolina and the royal children. They sailed for Gibraltar and home on 23 October 1796.
Elliot left Corsica on 26 October 1796 and went to Naples where he was warmly received by the King and Queen. He wrote to his wife from Naples 'I have been as prudent as I can about buying pictures and drawings, but cannot entirely refrain'. On 25 December he visited the Papal court in Rome in order to ascertain that they would not easily submit to the French. On 12 January 1797 he witnessed the wedding in Naples of Elizabeth Wynne and Captain Thomas Fremantle. On the 15th he sailed from Naples to join Nelson at Port Ferraio and he was present at the battle of St Vincent on 14 February. He finally returned to Plymouth on 5 March 1797.
1. See Elliot Letters, 2:179 - 379.