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ELLIOT, GEORGE AUGUSTUS, lord
Heathfield, a distinguished military officer, was the ninth son of Sir
Gilbert Elliot of Stobbs in Roxburghshire, and born about the year 1718. He
received his education, first at home under the charge of a family tutor,
and afterwards at Leyden, where he acquired a perfect and colloquial
knowledge of the French and German languages. Being destined for the army,
he was placed at the military school of La Fere, in Picardy, which was the
most celebrated in Europe, and conducted at that time by Vauban, the famous
engineer. He afterwards served for some time as a volunteer in the Prussian
army, which was then considered the best practical school of war.
Returning in his seventeenth year, he was introduced by his father to
lieutenant-colonel Peers of the 23d foot or royal Welsh Fusileers, which was
then lying at Edinburgh. Sir Gilbert presented him as a youth anxious to
bear arms for his king and country; and he accordingly entered the regiment
as a volunteer. Having served for upwards of a twelvemonth, during which he
displayed an uncommon zeal in his profession, he was removed to the engineer
corps at Woolwich, and was making great progress in the studies requisite
for that branch of service, when his uncle, colonel Elliot, introduced him
as adjutant of the 2d troop of horse grenadiers. His exertions in this
situation laid the foundation of a discipline, which afterwards rendered the
two troops of horse grenadiers the finest corps of heavy cavalry in Europe.
In the war, which ended in 1748, he served with his regiment in many actions—among
the rest, the battle of Dettingen, in which he was wounded. After
successively purchasing the captaincy, majority, and lieutenant colonelcy,
of his regiment, he resigned his place in the engineer corps,
notwithstanding that he had already studied gunnery and other matters
connected with the service, to a degree which few have ever attained. He was
now distinguished so highly for his zeal and acquirements, that George II.
appointed him one of his aides-de-camp. In 1759, he quitted the second
regiment of horse grenadiers, having been selected to raise, form, and
discipline the first regiment of light horse, called after him, Elliot’s.
This regiment was brought by him to such a pitch of activity and discipline,
as to be held up as a pattern to all the other dragoon regiments raised for
many years afterwards. Colonel Elliot, indeed, may be described as a perfect
military enthusiast. His habits of life were as rigorous as those of a
religious ascetic. His food was vegetables, his drink water. He neither
indulged himself in animal food nor wine. He never slept more than four
hours at a time, so that he was up later and earlier than moat other men. It
was his constant endeavour to make his men as abstemious, hardy, and
vigilant as himself; and it is stated that habit at last rendered them so,
without their feeling it to be a hardship. It might have been expected, from
such a character, that he would also be a stern and unscrupulous soldier;
but the reverse was the case. He was sincerely anxious, by acts of humanity,
to soften the horrors of war. In the expedition to the coast of France,
which took place near the close of the seven years’ war, he had the
command of the cavalry, with the rank of brigadier-general. In the memorable
expedition against the Havannah, he was second in command. After a desperate
siege of nearly two months, during which the British suffered dreadfully
from the climate, the city, which was considered as the key to all the
Spanish dominions in the West Indies, was taken by storm. The Spanish
general, Lewis de Velasco, had displayed infinite firmness in his defence of
this fortress, as well as the most devoted bravery at its conclusion, having
fallen amidst heaps of slain, while vainly endeavouring to repel the final
attack. Elliot appears to have been forcibly struck by the gallant conduct
of Velasco, and to have resolved upon rendering it a model for his
own conduct under similar circumstances. After the peace his regiment was
reviewed by the king (George III.) in Hyde Park, when they presented to his
majesty the standards taken from the enemy. The king, gratified with their
high character, asked general Elliot what mark of his favour he could bestow
on his regiment equal to their merits. He answered that his regiment would
be proud, if his majesty should think that, by their services, they were
entitled to the distinction of royals. It was accordingly made a royal
regiment, with this flattering title – "The 15th or king’s royal
regiment of light dragoons." At the same time the king expressed a
desire to confer a mark of his favour on the brave general; but he declared
that the honour and satisfaction of his majesty’s approbation were his
best reward.
During the peace between 1763
and 1775, general Elliot served for a time as commander of the
forces in Ireland. Being recalled from this difficult post on his own
solicitation, he was, in an hour fortunate for his country, appointed the
command of Gibraltar. In the ensuing war, which finally involved both the
French and Spaniards, the latter instituted a most determined siege round
his fortress, which lasted for three years, and was only unsuccessful
through the extraordinary exertions, and, it may be added, the extraordinary
qualifications of general Elliot. Both himself and his garrison, having been
previously inured to every degree of abstinence and discipline, were fitted
in a peculiar manner to endure the hardships of the siege, while at the same
time military and engineering movements were governed by such a clear
judgment and skill, as to bathe the utmost efforts of the enemy. Collected
within himself, he in no instance destroyed by premature attacks, the
labours which would cost the enemy time, patience, and expense to complete;
he deliberately observed their approaches, and, with the keenest perception,
seized on the proper moment in which to make his attack with success. He
never spent his ammunition in useless parade, or in unimportant attacks. He
never relaxed from his discipline by the appearance of security, nor
hazarded the lives of his garrison by wild experiments. By a cool and
temperate demeanour, with a mere handful of men, he maintained his station
for three years of constant investment, in which all the powers of Spain
were employed. All the eyes of Europe were upon his conduct, and his final
triumph was universally allowed to be among the most brilliant military
transactions of modern times.
On his return to England,
general Elliot received the thanks of parliament, was honoured by his
sovereign, June 14, 1787, with a peerage, under the title of lord Heathfield
and baron Gibraltar, besides being elected a knight of the Bath. His
lordship died at Aix-la-Chapelle, July 6, 1790, of a second stroke of palsy,
while endeavouring to reach Gibraltar, where he was anxious to close his
life. He left, by his wife Anne, daughter of Sir Francis Drake, a son who
succeeded him in the peerage. |
