ELIOT, Daniel (c.1646-1702), of Port Eliot, Cornw.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1690-1715, ed. D. Hayton, E. Cruickshanks, S. Handley, 2002
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Mar. 1679 - Mar. 1681
1685 - 1687
1689 - 1700
2 Apr. - 11 Nov. 1701

Family and Education

b. c.1646, 3rd but 1st surv. s. of John Eliot† of Port Eliot by Honora, da. of Sir Daniel Norton† of Southwick, Hants; bro. of Richard Eliot†.  educ. Christ’s, Camb. adm. 17 July 1663, aged 17; L. Inn 1668.  m. 13 July 1685, Catherine (d. 1687), da. of Thomas Fleming of N. Stoneham, Hants, 1da.  suc. fa. 1685.1

Offices Held

Biography

The Eliots had lived at Port Eliot (the former priory of St. Germans) since 1565, a few years before the first family member sat for the borough of St. Germans. Daniel Eliot continued his tenure of one of the seats in 1690, being classed as a Tory by Lord Carmarthen (Sir Thomas Osborne†) in March 1690. In the following December Carmarthen, anticipating an attack by his political enemies in the Commons, listed him as a likely supporter, and in April 1691 Robert Harley* classed him as a Court supporter. He was not active in the Commons, but on 1 Dec. 1691 he was added to the drafting committee on a bill to encourage the manufacture of saltpetre. In the next Parliament he was forecast as likely to oppose the government on 31 Jan. 1696 in the division on the proposed council of trade, refused the Association at first, and in March voted against fixing the price of guineas at 22s. On 25 Nov. he was listed as voting against the attainder of Sir John Fenwick†, even though in another version he was also marked as ‘absent’ from the same division. He was classed as a member of the Country party in a comparative analysis of the old and new Parliaments in 1698, and forecast as likely to oppose a standing army. Having retired from the Commons at the second general election of 1701, he died on 11 Oct. 1702, and was buried at St. Germans. A will written in 1694 showed Eliot’s concern that the estates should remain associated with the name of Eliot, for he left them to his cousin Edward Eliot*, and recommended that Edward marry his only daughter when she reached the age of 16. By the time he made a codicil to his will, nothing remained of this match (she eventually married Browne Willis*), but Edward was confirmed in the inheritance.2

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

  • 1. Vivian, Vis. Cornw. 148; Vis. Eng. and Wales Notes ed. Crisp, xiii. 122–5; IGI, Cornw.; Mar. Lic. Fac. Off. (Harl. Soc. xxiv), 176.
  • 2. Jnl. R. Inst. Cornw. n.s. ix. 324–5; Polsue, Complete Paroch. Hist. Cornw. ii. 40; PCC 82 Dogg.