John Eliot (statesman)
| Sir John Eliot | |
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| Born |
11 April 1592 Cuddenbeak, Port Eliot, Cornwall, England |
| Died | 27 November 1632 (aged 40) Tower of London, England |
| Cause of death | tuberculosis |
| Spouse(s) | Radigund Gedie (various spellings) (m. 1611–28) |
| Children |
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Sir John Eliot (11 April 1592 – 27 November 1632) was an English statesman who was serially imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he eventually died, by King Charles I for advocating the rights and privileges of Parliament.
The son of Richard Eliot (1546 – 22 June 1609) and Bridget Carswell (c. 1542 – March 1617), he was born at Cuddenbeak, a farm on his father's Port Eliot estate at St Germans in Cornwall. He was baptised on 20 April at St Germans Church, immediately next to Port Eliot. The Eliot family were an old Devon family that had settled in Cornwall.
John Eliot was educated at Blundell's School, Tiverton, and matriculated at Exeter College, Oxford, on 4 December 1607, and, leaving the university after three years, he studied law at one of the Inns of Court. He also spent some months travelling in France, Spain and Italy, in company, for part of the time, with young George Villiers, afterwards 1st Duke of Buckingham.
Eliot was only twenty-two when he began his parliamentary career as Member of Parliament for St Germans in the "Addled Parliament" of 1614. In May 1618, he was knighted, and next year through the patronage of Buckingham he obtained the appointment of Vice-Admiral of Devon, with large powers for the defence and control of the commerce of the county. It was not long before the characteristic energy with which he performed the duties in his office involved him in difficulties. After many attempts, in 1623, he succeeded by a clever but dangerous manoeuvre in entrapping the famous pirate John Nutt, who had for years infested the southern coast, inflicting immense damage upon English commerce. However, the pirate, having a powerful protector at court in Sir George Calvert, the secretary of state, was pardoned; while the Vice-Admiral, upon charges which could not be substantiated, was flung into the Marshalsea prison, and detained there nearly four months.
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