The Right Honourable The Earl of St Germans GCB PC DL |
|
---|---|
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland | |
In office 5 January 1853 – 30 January 1855 |
|
Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Prime Minister | The Earl of Aberdeen |
Preceded by | The Earl of Eglinton |
Succeeded by | The Earl of Carlisle |
Personal details | |
Born |
Plymouth, Devon |
29 August 1798
Died | 7 October 1877 St Germans, Cornwall |
(aged 79)
Nationality | British |
Political party |
Tory Peelite Liberal |
Spouse(s) | Lady Jemima Cornwallis (m. 1824–56) |
Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans GCB PC DL (29 August 1798 – 7 October 1877), styled Lord Elliot from 1823 to 1845, was a British politician and diplomat.
St Germans was born in Plymouth, Devon, the son of William Eliot, 2nd Earl of St Germans and his first wife, Lady Georgina (13 April 1769 – 4 March 1806), daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford. He was educated at Westminster School from 1809–1811, and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford on 13 December 1815.
St Germans became the Secretary of Legation at Madrid on 21 November 1823. He became Member of Parliament for Liskeard the following year. Beginning his career as a Tory, he remained loyal to Robert Peel, and served as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from 1827 until 1830. Out of parliament between 1832 and 1837, he served in Peel's second government first as Chief Secretary for Ireland and later as Postmaster General of the United Kingdom. He brokered the so-called Lord Eliot Convention in Spain, which aimed to end the indiscriminate executions by firing squad of prisoners of both sides of the First Carlist War. When the debate over the Corn Laws broke the Conservative Party he followed Peel, and served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in Lord Aberdeen's coalition government. He was twice Lord Steward under Lord Palmerston. In 1860, he accompanied the Prince of Wales on his tour of Canada and the USA.