The 1909 Edition of Debretts gives the following. "The 1st baronet, Sir George Elliot (son of Ralph Elliot Esq, of Penshaw Co. Durham) was an extensive colliery proprietor and sat as MP for Durham N (C) 1868-80 and 1881-5 and for Monmouth Dist 1886-92. The 2nd baronet sat as MP for Northallerton (C) 1874-85 and Yorkshire, N Riding, Richmond Div 1886-95." By 1909 they were onto the 4th Baronet, the 3rd, Sir George, having died 1904. In 1909 the baronet was Sir Charles, b 1873, formerly Lieutenant 13th Hussars (S. Africa 1901 &2) who had married 1903, Helena Louise, youngest daughter of the late Benjamin Piercy JP (a Com. of Crown of Italy) of Marchwiel Hall Denbighshire and Macomer, Sardinia. In 1909 they had no children. Aunts Living (daughters of 1st Bt) Margaret = 1862 Thomas Thompson Pyle MD JP who d 1890 and has issue living George Elliot Aubone b 1865 Capt & Hon Maj Northumberland Artillery W. Div RA = 1901 Florence Lurline dau of the late Col J.E. Varty Rogers, Roy Dublin Fusiliers and one of HM's Hon Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms and has issue living George Anthony Elliot b 1902 Lurline Winifred Elliot (twin) b 1902 Ernest Harold Elliot b 1868 = 1898 Maie dau of the late Robert Fowler and has issue living Desmond Elliot b 1899 Terence Douglas Elliot b 1901 Geoffrey Dalziel Elliot b 1905 Angela Kathleen Helen Margaret Elliot b 1904 Valerie Maie Elliot (twin) b 1905 Ethel Margaret = 1886 John St George Arthur Garde-Browne and has issue living Edward St George b 1888 John b 1890 William b 1891 Alice Ann = 1867 Joseph Charles Parkinson who d 1908 JP and DL for Co. Monmouth and has issue living Marriott b 1872 = 1907 Lily dau of ? Johnston and widow of Sir George Elliot 3rd Bt (infra) The 1910 edition of Fox-Davies Armorial families adds the following. Sir Charles Elliot 4th Bt was younger son of Sir George William Elliot 2nd Bt MD (1844-1895) and Sarah (=1866) dau of Charles Taylor of Sunderland. James James Dempster

ELLIOT, Sir GEORGE (1815-1893), BARONET, owner and developer of coalmines; b. at Penshaw, Gateshead, co. Durham, in March or June 1815, one of the six children of Ralph Elliot, under-manager of Whitefield colliery and his wife Elizabeth (née Braithwaite). At the age of 9 he began working 14 hours a day underground. When he was 19 yrs. old he went as a promising trainee to the office of Thomas Sopwith, underground inspector at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, returning to Whitefield within six months and becoming an overman. In 1837 he was made under-manager of the Monkswearmouth colliery, Sunderland — the deepest pit in England at the time — and manager in 1839. In 1840 he bought, in partnership, Washington mine, and in 1843 he bought his first pit on his own at Usworth, and at Whitefield in 1864. He was appointed in 1851 chief consultant and engineer in the Marquis of Londonderry's mines in the Durham coal field. After resigning c. 1860 he bought Kuper & Co., Gateshead, makers of industrial wires which had almost become bankrupt in 1849. He went into partnership with Richard Glass, the inventor of submarine wire insulation, to recreate the company as Glass & Elliot, or from 1864 the Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Co., the company which made the first submarine wires between Europe and America (1866), and between India and Australia. This is when he ventured into the coalfields of south Wales. He was responsible in 1864 for forming the partnership of Englishmen and Scotsmen who bought for Ł365,000 all the coal mines of the late Thomas Powell of ‘Y Gaer’, Newport, Mon. (DWB, 1146), from his sons, and established the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Co. which grew to be the largest coal company in south Wales before it was nationalised in 1947. About 16 pits in Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire belonging to the Powell family came into the hands of the new company, and Elliot lost no opportunity in extending the business and buying coalmines near Aberdare. By buying the rich coalmine and ironworks of Crawshay Bailey (DWB, 20-1) in that neighbourhood, Powell Duffryn seized the nucleus of the old estate of the Mathews of Aberaman, a branch of the ancient family of Radyr and Llandaff (DWB., 617-8), and gentry of the district before becoming extinct in 1788. There, in their mansion (which had been renovated extensively by a previous purchaser, Anthony Bacon, II, DWB, 19-20), Elliot lived at intervals; and there, after his day, Powell Duffryn made their headquarters. Powell Duffryn proceeded under the leadership of Elliot and his successors to secure more coalmines in the Aberdare valley and other mines in the Rhymney valley. The company also developed railways in the Aberdare and Rhymney valleys to promote exports, and the coke, electricity and gas works. In 1920 P.D. gained ownership of the old Rhymney Iron Company and its extensive estate, and the company bought thousands of acres in the Llantrisant area. The company's foreign business was so vast by 1914 that a branch was established in Europe, Compagnie Française des Mines Powell Duffryn. This growth stemmed from Elliot's foresight and energy. He was acting manager of the company, 1864-77 and 1880-88; and chairman, 1886-89. Elliotstown, Rhymney valley, was named after him, and also streets in his and his wife's memory in Aberaman. In memory of his wife he paid for a new church there in 1882-83, and endowed a new church in Whitby, Durham, in 1886. However, he was not free from opposition. The trustees of the Marquis of Bute were reluctant to grant him everything he sought, so he took an interest in the development of Newport docks to avoid Cardiff, over which they had a hold. He was the chief promoter of the Alexandra northern dock in Newport which was opened in 1875 and which gave a foundation for the subsequent growth of the town; he obtained parliamentary authority to lay the Pontypridd, Caerphilly & Newport Railway, 1878-83, to serve him in exporting coal. He was enthusiastic about the future of the coal industry to the last. Three months before his death he published a plan for a trust to hold all the resources of the industry in Britain, with the owners holding shares but sharing the profits with the workers and an insurance fund. Elliot was also a prominent public figure. He was M.P. (C) for Durham North, 1868-80 and 1881-85; and for Monmouth, 1886-92. He was a Tory much to Disraeli's liking and was made a baronet in 1874 for services to his party and for his ‘useful life’. Both of them shared an interest in Egypt. Elliot was there in 1874 and 1875-76 planning railways and as a financial advisor to the insecure government of the Khedive. In 1878 he went officially to inspect the island of Cyprus after Turkey had yielded it to Britain. He was Deputy Lieutenant for the counties of Durham and Monmouth and a J.P. for Durham, Monmouth and Glamorgan. In 1882 he received an hon. D.C.L. of the University of Durham, and he was president of the Association of Mining Engineers. He sponsored educational establishments and the Anglican church in the north of England and south Wales, and he was a prominent figure among the Freemasons. The Prince of Wales appointed him Provincial Grand Master of the Eastern Lodge of South Wales in Aberdare in 1877. In 1836 he m. Margaret Green (d. 1880) of Rainton, Houghton-le-Spring, Durham. He d. 23 Dec. 1893, and was buried in Houghton churchyard. They had two sons and four daughters. Sir George Elliot was succeeded to the baronetcy by his second son, Sir George William Elliot, in 1893 (his first son had d. in 1874) and he too was a M.P. (C), 1874-95, when he d. The title then passed to his son, Sir George Elliot, the third baronet, and in 1904 to the latter's brother, Sir Charles Elliot. The title became extinct at the d. of the fourth baronet in 1911. Three particularly significant aspects may be perceived in Elliot's career. First, by rising from the lower ranks of society to its peak through his own endeavours he represents quite strikingly the energy and confidence of the Victorian Age in the industrial field. Second, he played an especially important role in the development of the south Wales coalfield, exemplifying the change which occurred as groups of English capitalists bought the companies and coalmines from several venturous native Welshmen who had preceded them. Third, his political career as a self-made man was an excellent example of the new Tory Party which Disraeli wanted to create. It was Elliot who was chiefly responsible for reducing the hours of work of an underground worker from 12 to 9 hours a day, and he was an important intermediary between the masters and workers during the great strike of 1871 in south Wales. In 1874 he maintained that he had devoted a great part of his life to the welfare of the working class; yet, he did not wish to be seen as a M.P. for that class — ‘since there were other interests to be represented’. Bibliography: Durham County Advertiser, 29.12.1893; The Durham Directory, 1882 and 1895; The Times, 25.12.1893; William D. Lawson, Tyneside Celebrities (1873); Frank H. Rushford, Houghton-le-Spring: a history (n.d.); History of the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Co. (1914); A. P. Barnett & David Willson-Lloyd, The South Wales Coalfield (1921); C. Wilkins, The South Wales Coal Trade (1888); Elizabeth Phillips, Pioneers of the Welsh Coalfield (1925); W. W. Price in P. D. Review (1942-43) and Old Aberdare, 4 (1985); R. L. Galloway, Annals of coal mining (1904); A. Dalziel, The colliers' strike in south Wales (1872); Arthur C. Fox-Davies, Armorial Families (1895); M. Stenton, Who's who of British members of parliament (1976). Author: David Leslie Davies, Aberdare

BORN five-and-sixty years ago of poor parents, Sir George Elliot began life at fourteen as a pitman in a colliery hard by his native town of Gateshead, and among his companions was known as "Geordie"- a name which has stood by him to this day. But his natural talents and ambition were not to be contained by a colliery. At seventeen he had taught himself up to a fair proficiency in mathematics, he also taught himself surveying, so that at one-and-twenty he had already attained to the position of overman, and not long after became chief viewer of the pit in which he was employed. He was already married, and so well did he thrive, that at six-and-twenty he became himself the part proprietor of a colliery, and subsequently developed into a coal-owner on a large scale. At thirty-five he became concerned in a wire-rope manufactory, which he first purchased, then pulled through its difficulties, and finally developed into the famous Telegraph Construction and Maintenance Company, which made the Atlantic Cable. Such was his shrewdness and so correct his judgment, that within a few years he became known as one of the richest men in that northern country where riches are most highly valued. Withal he had so far escaped the contagion of the self-made as to be a Conservative in politics; and at fifty-four he was proposed and elected as a County Member for the northern part of that county which had always hitherto been represented by Lambtons or Liddells, Vanes or Williamsons. Since then he has become known as a man of unflagging energy and unchanging staunchness to his Party, so that five years ago he was one of the chosen few whom Lord Beaconsfield rewarded with baronetcies for their services to the State. Sir George is a very keen man of business; he is simple, unaffected, and cordial, yet without any pretension, so that his manners are good and his companionship is as pleasant as for those who desire to inform themselves it is profitable. He takes perhaps too great an interest in Egypt, but when he is in England few men are more congenially welcomed by those who know him.

Born in 1815 in Gateshead, the son of a coal miner, George Elliot became a mining engineer and in 1840 a colliery owner. In partnership with Richard Glass he took over the wire rope manufacturer Kuper and Company at Morden Wharf, East Greenwich. The business was renamed Glass, Elliot and Company, and began producing submarine cables.

ELLIOT, Syr GEORGE (1815-1893), BARWNIG, perchennog a datblygydd glofeydd; g. yn Penshaw, Gateshead, swydd Durham, ym mis Mawrth neu Feh. 1815 yn un o chwe phlentyn Ralph Elliot, is-reolwr pwll glo Whitefield, a'i wraig Elizabeth (g. Braithwaite). Yn 9 oed dechreuodd weithio 14 awr y dydd dan ddaear. Yn 19 oed aeth fel disgybl addawol i swyddfa Thomas Sopwith, archwiliwr tanddaearol yn Newcastle-upon-Tyne, gan ddychwelyd i Whitefield ymhen chwe mis a dod yn ‘overman’. Yn 1837 gwnaed ef yn is-reolwr glofa Monkswearmouth, Sunderland, pwll dyfnaf Lloegr ar y pryd, ac yn rheolwr yn 1839. Yn 1840 prynodd mewn partneriaeth bwll Washington, ac yn 1843 ei bwll cyntaf ar ei liwt ei hun yn Usworth, ac un Whitefield yn 1864. Fe'i penodwyd yn 1851 yn brif ymgynghorydd a pheiriannydd mwyngloddau Ardalydd Londonderry ym maes glo Durham. Wedi ymddiswyddo tuag 1860 prynodd gwmni Kuper & Co., Gateshead, gwneuthurwyr gwifrau diwydiannol a fu ar fin methu yn 1849. Aeth i bartneriaeth â Richard Glass, dyfeisydd gorchudd gwifrau tanfor, i ail-greu'r cwmni yn Glass & Elliot, neu o 1864 y Telegraph Construction & Maintenance Co., y cwmni a gynhyrchodd y gwifrau tanfor cyntaf rhwng Ewrop ac America (1866), a'r India ac Awstralia. Dyma'r cyfnod y mentrodd i faes glo de Cymru. Bu'n gyfrifol yn 1864 am godi partneriaeth o Saeson ac Albanwyr a brynodd am Ł365,000 holl lofeydd y diweddar Thomas Powell o'r Gaer, Casnewydd (Bywg.2, 145-6), oddi wrth ei feibion, a sefydlu'r Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Co. a dyfodd yn gwmni glo mwyaf de Cymru cyn ei wladoli yn 1947. Daeth rhyw 16 pwll ym Morgannwg a Mynwy o feddiant teulu Powell i ddwylo'r cwmni newydd, ac ni chollodd Elliot gyfle i ymestyn a phrynu glofeydd gerllaw Aberdâr. Wrth brynu glofa gyfoethog a gwaith haearn Crawshay Bailey (Bywg., 19-20) yn y gymdogaeth cafodd Powell Duffryn afael ar gnewyllyn hen ystad Mathewiaid Aberaman, cangen o deulu hynafol Radur a Llandaf (Bywg., 582) a oedd yn uchelwyr yr ardal cyn eu difodiant yn 1788. Yno, yn eu plasdy (a adnewyddwyd yn helaeth gan bwrcaswr cynharach, Anthony Bacon II, Bywg., 18), yr ymgartrefodd Elliot yn ysbeidiol; ac yno, ar ôl ei ddyddiau, y creodd Powell Duffryn eu pencadlys. Aeth cwmni Powell Duffryn yn ei flaen dan arweiniad Elliot a'i olynwyr a sicrhau glofeydd pellach yng nghwm Aberdâr, a phyllau eraill yng nghwm Rhymni. Bu'r cwmni hefyd yn datblygu rheilffyrdd yng nghymoedd Aberdâr a Rhymni er hybu allforion, a gweithfeydd golosg, trydan a nwy. Yn 1920 cafodd P.D. feddiant ar hen Gwmni Haearn Rhymni, a'i ystad eang, a phrynodd y cwmni filoedd o erwau yn ardal Llantrisant. Bu busnes tramor y cwmni gymaint erbyn 1914 nes sefydlu cangen gyfandirol, y Compagnie Francaise des Mines Powell Duffryn. Llifodd y twf o weledigaeth ac egni Elliot. Ef oedd rheolwr gweithredol y cwmni, 1864-77 ac 1880-88; a'r cadeirydd, 1886-89. Enwyd Elliotstown, cwm Rhymni, ar ei ôl, a strydoedd er cof amdano ef a'i wraig yn Aberaman. Er cof am ei wraig talodd am eglwys newydd yno yn 1882-83, a gwaddolodd eglwys newydd yn Whitby, Durham, yn 1886. Eithr ni fu heb wrthwynebiad. Bu ymddiriedolwyr Ardalydd Bute yn gyndyn i ganiatáu iddo bopeth a geisiai, ac felly cymerodd ddiddordeb yn natblygiad dociau Casnewydd er osgoi eu gafael ar Gaerdydd. Ef oedd prif hyrwyddwr doc gogleddol Alexandra yng Nghasnewydd a agorwyd yn 1875 ac a roes sail i dwf diweddarach y dref; a chafodd awdurdod seneddol i osod yn ystod 1878-83 y Pontypridd, Caerphilly & Newport Railway i'w wasanaethu ag allforion glo. Bu'n frwd dros ddyfodol y diwydiant glo tan y diwedd. Tri mis cyn ei farw cyhoeddodd gynllun ar gyfer ymddiriedolaeth i feddu ar holl adnoddau'r diwydiant ym Mhrydain, gyda'r perchnogion yn meddu ar y siarau ond yn rhannu eu helw â'r gweithwyr ac â chronfa yswiriant. Bu Elliot yn ffigur cyhoeddus amlwg hefyd. Bu'n A.S. (C) dros Ogledd Durham 1868-80 ac 1881-85; a thros Drefynwy, 1886-92. Yr oedd yn Dori wrth fodd calon Disraeli, ac yn 1874 fe'i gwnaed yn farwnig am ei wasanaeth i'w blaid ac am ei ‘fywyd defnyddiol’. Rhannai'r ddau ddiddordeb yn yr Aifft. Bu Elliot yno yn 1874 ac 1875-76 yn cynllunio rheilffyrdd ac yn ymgynghorydd cyllidol i lywodraeth simsan y Khedive. Yn 1878 aeth yn swyddogol i archwilio Ynys Cyprus wedi i Dwrci ei hildio i Brydain. Bu'n ddirprwy-raglaw siroedd Durham a Mynwy ac yn ynad dros Durham, Mynwy a Morgannwg. Yn 1882 cafodd radd D.C.L. er anrh. gan Brifysgol Durham, ac ef oedd llywydd yr Association of Mining Engineers. Noddai sefydliadau addysg a'r eglwys Anglicanaidd yng ngogledd Lloegr a de Cymru, a bu'n ffigur amlwg ymysg y Seiri Rhyddion. Cafodd ei benodi gan Dywysog Cymru yn Provincial Grand Master Adran Ddwyreiniol De Cymru yn Aberdâr yn 1877. Pr. yn 1836 â Margaret Green (bu f. 1880) o Rainton, Houghton-le-Spring, Durham. Bu f. 23 Rhag. 1893, a chladdwyd ef ym mynwent eglwys Houghton. Bu iddynt ddau fab a phedair merch. Olynwyd Syr George Elliot fel barwnig gan ei ail fab, Syr George William Elliot, yn 1893 (buasai'r mab cyntaf farw yn 1874) ac yr oedd yntau'n A.S. (C), 1874-95, pan fu f. Aeth y teitl wedyn i'w fab yntau, Syr George Elliot, y trydydd barwnig, ac yn 1904 i'w frawd ef, Syr Charles Elliot. Difodwyd y teitl ar farwolaeth y pedwerydd barwnig yn 1911. Gwelir tri phrif arwyddocâd yng ngyrfa Elliot. Yn gyntaf, wrth godi yn ôl ei ymdrechion ei hun o waelodion cymdeithas i'w brig cynrychiola'n drawiadol egni a hyder Oes Fictoria yn y maes diwydiannol. Yn ail, bu ganddo ran hynod bwysig yn natblygiad maes glo de Cymru, gan bersonoli ynddo'i hun y newid a fu wrth i glymbleidiau o gyfalafwyr Seisnig brynu cwmnďau a glofeydd amryw fentrwyr cynhenid Cymreig a oedd wedi eu rhagflaenu. Yn drydydd, yr oedd ei yrfa wleidyddol fel ‘self-made man’ yn enghraifft ragorol o'r Blaid Dorďaidd newydd yr oedd Disraeli am ei chreu. Ef oedd yn bennaf gyfrifol am ostwng oriau gwaith gweithwyr tanddaear o 12 i 9 awr y dydd a bu'n ganolwr pwysig rhwng y meistri a'r dynion yn streic fawr 1871 yn ne Cymru. Honnai yn 1874 ei fod wedi cysegru rhan helaeth o'i oes i les y dosbarth gweithiol ac eto, ni fynnai gael ei weld fel A.S. dros y dosbarth hwnnw ‘gan fod diddordebau eraill i'w cynrychioli’. Llyfryddiaeth: Durham County Advertiser, 29 Rhag. 1893; The Durham Directory, 1882 ac 1895; The Times, 25 Rhag. 1893; William D. Lawson, Tyneside Celebrities (1873); Frank H. Rushford, Houghton-le-Spring: a history (d.d.); History of the Powell Duffryn Steam Coal Co. (1914); A. P. Barnett a David Willson-Lloyd, The South Wales Coalfield (1921); C. Wilkins, The South Wales Coal Trade (1888); Elizabeth Phillips, Pioneers of the Welsh Coalfield (1925); W. W. Price yn P. D. Review (1942- 43) ac Old Aberdare, 4 (1985); R. L. Galloway, Annals of coal mining (1904); A. Dalziel, The colliers' strike in south Wales (1872); Arthur C. Fox-Davies, Armorial Families (1895); M. Stenton, Who's who of British members of parliament (1976). Awdur: David Leslie Davies, Aberdâr

An important and interesting communication was read from the Grand Secretary on March 1st, notifying the Brethren of the appointment of Sir George Elliot, Bart. M.P., as Provincial Grand Master for the Eastern Division of South Wales, and also one from the Prov. Grand Master elect, as follows : — 23, Great George Street, Westminster, I/jndon, S.W., 10th February, 1877. Dear Worshipful Master, I believe you have heard officially from the Grand Secretary that H.R.n. the Grand Master ha:S done me the honour to appoint me Prov. Grand Master of South Wales Eastern Division. I have now to inform you that. I am looking forward to being installed in my high office at no distant date, that I shall give myself the pleasure of communicating with you again as soon as the date of that ceremony can be fixed. I have to my deep regret learnt in a fraternal letter from Bro. E. J. Morris that he cannot accept the office of Deputy Provincial Master which, as I informed him on the day I heard of my appointment, it was my wish to offer him, and I have therefore to request that all communications on the busniess of the Province may be for the present sent to me direct. I beg. Worshipful Master, that you will be good enough to convey to the members of your Lodge my earnest desire to work with them for the promotion of the best interests of Freemasonry in our Province, and that you will inform the Brethren I am counting confidently upon their fraternal consideration and co-operation by which alone I can hope to discharge efficiently the responsible duties of the exalted position conferred upon me by the gracious favour of His Royal Highness. I am, Dear Worshipful Master, Yours faithfully and fraternally, George Eluot. It was unanimously resolved that the following letter of congratulation be sent to the Prov. Grand Master