Sir John Eliot

John Elioit was born on 20th. April 1590 at Port Eliot, St. Germans on the bank of the River Taymar. He grew up in a household that was noted for its generous entertaining and relaxed way of life. As a result John seems to have been a litle wild in his youth. In one instance he wounded a neighbour. a Mr. Moyle, of Bake, after he had been complaining to his father of his way of life. At the time of this incident Eliot was somewhere between 15 and 18 years old and it sems to have had a steading effect on his character as from this time forward he lead a blameless life.

After 3 years at Oxford he left, without a qualification, to enter one of the Inns of Court to become a barrister. It was not intended that Eliot should practise law, at this time it was the acepted practise that young men who were destined (through hereditary rights and lands) to become Justice's of the Peace and Members of Parliment to be educated in this way.

After travelling on the continent in the company of George Villiers, John returned to England in 1611 and subsequently married Rhadagund. His wife was the only daughter of the wealthy squire, Richard Gedie of Treburfey who was High Sheriff of Cornwall at that time. Unfortunately his wife died in 1628 after bearing five children (John, Richard, Edward, Befs and Nicholas) and her father joined her the following year.

At 24 years old John Eliot became Member of the Parliament for St. Germans, for the first time, in March of 1614. This parliment was an unproductive (no bills were passed) and short (dissolved in June). It is noteable as the last Parliment with Sir Francis Bacon as Attorney an that Sir Edward Giles (a cornish neighbour) was leader of the opposition.

After the dissolution of Parliment Eliot lived quietly in London for the next few years. He came back into the public eye in 1618 when on the 29th. October 1618 he was a witness to the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh to whom he was distantly related.

Following his friend's, George Villiers now the Marquess of Buckingham, appointment as lord high admiral of England, Sir John (he had been knighted in May 1618) was made vice-admiral of Devon. As vice-admiral he was the cheif of naval administration for his district. His responsibilies included pressing men for naval service, deciding the lawfulness of prizes (captured pirate ships), dealing with salvage claims for wrecks and acting as a judge.

At this time it was the practice for office holders to devide the money raised by by fines, siezures, etc. with the lord admiral instead of being paid a salary. However, in the society of the time this was a risky business as influence at court counted more than the rule of law. So a person acting as a pirate, caught red handed with witnesses against him could escape the punishment due under the law if he had powerful friends, particularly in the monarch's court and at Whitehall. In such a case the vice-admiral may find himself liable for the costs of his actions against the acused and have to provide recompense or worse himself arrested on trumped up charges.

This was the case in 1623 when the notorious priate Captain John Nutt was captured. Nutt had several pirate ships operating of the Irish and western coasts of England where no ship was safe from attack by his ships.

Nutt used Torbay, where he had a wife and child, as an occaisional base. He felt secure here boasting about his exploits, the pardons he obtained through his friends and at the attempts that were made to capture him. Eventually, Sir John tempted Nutt ashore at Torbay by a ruse involving one of Nuitt's pardons, in which he (Nutt) had failed to comply with the terms set out for the pardon to take effect.

On his arrest Nutt was sent to London to face the charges of piracy and here the unexpected happened. Nutt and his followers, were pardoned through influenece coupled with no small amount of bribery, and permitted to keep the profits of their illegal activities. The vice-admiral was now arrested on charges relating to a ship that he had seized, in relation to Nutt's arrest, and thrown into Marshalfea prison.

After several lengthy examinations and the application of "influence", both for and against the vice-admiral, he was released to be re-united with his patron, the Marquess of Buckingham on his (the Marquess's) return from a diplomatic mission to Spain. It may be the case that the iminent return of the Marquess promted the release of Eliot.

On his release Sir John returned to his naval responsilities with a vengance, in fact he hung 20 captured pirates in one day. At this time, in addition to carryiong out the duties of vice-admiral of Devon, Eliot took his seat in the Parliment called by King Charles I on Tuesday 30th. December 1620. This Parliment was primarilly called to discuss the fate of the King's daughter and son-in-law, who had lost his throne. However the King was displeased with the Parliment and wrote to the M.P.'s challenging their Parlimentary privileges and stating that they sat at his pleasure and not as a right. The Parlimentarians reply "The Protest" was to adopt by acclamation (the Protest was the begining of the end for the Stuarts and the concept of 'rule by devine right' and as such was second only to the Magna Carta in importance in defining the road to a demorcratic society).

He led in the Commons for the impeachment of Buckingham (following his disastrous management of the anti-Catholic war) in 1626 and was imprisoned for eleven days and dismissed as Vice Admiral.

He was returned to the Parliament of 1628 where, with Pym, he led the Commons in forcing Charles to accept the Petition of Rights and continued to attack Buckingham.

Charles dismissed Parliament and imprisoned Elliot (and eight other commons leaders) in the Tower where he died 3 years later.

When the family asked Charles for his body, so that he may be buried at Port Elliot, he refused replying 'Let Sir John Elliot is buried in the church of that parish where he died'.

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