George Francis Scott Elliot

George Francis Scott-Elliot FRGS FLS FRSE (1862–1934) was a botanist and academic author of Franco-Scots descent. He was a personal friend of Patrick Geddes.

Biography

Scott-Elliot was born in Calcutta in India of Franco-Scots parentage. His father, James Scott Elliot (d.1880) was a merchant in Calcutta, coming from the Scottish Borders.[1]

He went to Cambridge University in 1879 and graduated BA (Maths tripos). He then attended Edinburgh University gaining a BSc in Botany. He had a natural love of travel. His first major trip was 1888-89 when he explored South Africa Mauritius and Madagascar. In June 1890 he gave a lecture to the Linnean Society on the flora of Madagascar. He then did further studies in Libya and Egypt before being commissioned by the Franco-Britiah Delineation Committee to define the boundaries of Sierra Leonne.[1]

From 1896 to 1903, he lectured in Botany at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College. In 1903, he undertook a tour of South America.

From 1902 to 1909 he was President of the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society.[2] At this period he lived at Drumwhill near New Galloway in Kirkcudbrightshire.[3]

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1913. His proposers were Robert Kidston, John Horne, John Aitken and James Geikie. He resigned in 1927.[4]

Although "over-age" he volunteered almost immediately at the onset of the First World War and joined the King's Own Scottish Borderers and saw active duty under fire in Egypt as a Captain and was awarded the Order of the Nile. In 1917, whilst returning home on leave, his ship was torpedoed off the coast of Italy. Ensuing ill-health from this near-drowning left him unable to rejoin his regiment on active duty, and instead he became a commanding officer in the Home Defence Corps.

He later retired with his wife to Wadhurst in Sussex to be near his brother, Lt Col William Scott Elliot DSO (1873-1943). In his final years, he returned to Scotland and died in the Moat Brae Nursing Home in Dumfries on 20 June 1934.[5]

Legacy

George Scott-Elliot is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of African chameleon, Trioceros ellioti[6] and the plant genus Scottellia Oliv. (1893) (Achariaceae).

Publications
  • The Best route to Uganda (1895)
  • Flora of Dumfrieshire (1896)
  • A First Course in Practical Botany (1906)
  • Chile: Its History and Development (1913)
  • Fauna, Flora and Geology of the Clyde Area (1901)
  • Prehistoric Man and His Story (1915)
  • The Romance of Plant Life (1907)
  • The Romance of Early British Life (1909)
  • A Naturalist in Africa (date unknown)
  • The Romance of Savage Life (date unknown)

Family

He married Annie Johnston-Stewart daughter of Robert Hathorn Johnston-Stewart of Glasserton and Physgill, in April 1896 near Whithorn in Wigtownshire.[8] They lived originally at Wilton Mansions in Glasgow. They later moved to Kilmalcolm and finally to Kilbarchan.

His nephew was Major-General James Scott-Elliot, who also joined the King's Own Scottish Borderers and served with distinction during the Second World War.

See also

References
  1. Curtis, Eric W. (2009). "Two Victorian Botanists: Professor Roger Hennedy and Professor George Francis Scott Elliot" (PDF). The Glasgow Naturalist. 25 (2): 49–55.
  2. "G.F. Scott-Elliot". Archived from the original on 27 July 2013. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  3. "G.F. Scott-Elliot, F.R.G.S., F.L.S | DGNHAS". www.dgnhas.org.uk. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  4. Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X.
  5. "Scott Elliot". www.scotlandswar.co.uk. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
  6. Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. ISBN 978-1-4214-0135-5. ("Elliot, G. F. S.", p. 82).
  7. International Plant Names Index.  Scott-Elliot.
  8. "Family tree of Annie Johnston Stewart". Geneanet. Retrieved 29 February 2020.
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