William Gordon Cornwallis Eliot, 4th Earl of St Germans (14 December 1829 – 19 March 1881), known as Lord Eliot from 1864 to 1877, was a British diplomat and Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician.

Life and career

Eliot was born at Port Eliot

Port Eliot

Port Eliot in St Germans, Cornwall, is the seat of the Eliot family, whose current head is Peregrine Eliot, 10th Earl of St Germans. Port Eliot comprises a house with its own church which is the parish church of St Germans. An earlier church building was the cathedral for the whole of Cornwall...

, Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

, the third but eldest surviving son of Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans

Edward Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans

Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans GCB , DL, LL.D, PC , styled Lord Elliot from 1823 to 1845, was a British politician and diplomat.-Background and education:...

, and his wife Jemima (née Cornwallis). He was educated at Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and then joined the Diplomatic Service

Diplomatic service

Diplomatic service is the body of diplomats and foreign policy officers maintained by the government of a country to communicate with the governments of other countries. Diplomatic personnel enjoy diplomatic immunity when they are accredited to other countries...

. He served as Attaché at Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

 from 1849 to 1853, as Attaché at Lisbon

Lisbon

Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...

 from 1851 to 1853, as 2nd Paid Attaché at Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 from 1853 to 1857, as 1st Paid Attaché at Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...

  from 1857 to 1858, as 1st Paid Attaché at St Petersburg from 1858 to 1859, as Secretary of Legation at Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro

Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...

 in 1859, as Secretary of Legation at Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

 from 1859 to 1861, as Secretary of Legation at Lisbon from 1860 to 1861 and from 1864 to 1865, as Chargé d'Affaires at Rio de Janeiro from 1861 to 1863 and as Acting Secretary of Legation at Washington DC from 1863 to 1864.

He resigned in 1865 and was elected Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Devonport in 1866, a seat he held until 1868. In 1870 he was summoned to the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

 as through a writ of acceleration

Writ of acceleration

A writ in acceleration, commonly called a writ of acceleration, was a type of writ of summons to the British House of Lords that enabled the eldest son and heir apparent of a peer with multiple peerage titles to attend the British House of Lords or Irish House of Lords, using one of his father's...

 in his father's junior title of Baron Eliot. Lord St Germans died unmarried in March 1881, aged 51, and was succeeded by his younger brother, Henry

Henry Eliot, 5th Earl of St Germans

Henry Cornwallis Eliot, 5th Earl of St Germans Henry Cornwallis Eliot was born in London on 11 February 1835 to Edward Granville Eliot, 3rd Earl of St Germans and his wife Jemima née Cornwallis .Henry was educated at Eton College from 1845 - 1847, and served as a Midshipman in the Royal Navy in the...

.