| Constituency | Dates |
|---|---|
| Roxburghshire | 1722 – June 1726 |
Ld. of session (Lord Minto) 1726 – d., ld. of justiciary 1733 – d., ld. justice clerk 1763 – d.
Elliot’s family was a junior branch to that of Stobs. Like his father, who owed his professional success to his ties with the house of Argyll,1G. F. S. Elliot, Border Elliots, 314. he was closely associated with the Duke of Argyll and his brother, Lord Ilay, whose assistance he invoked in the case of his unfortunate namesake of Stobs. Returned for his shire in 1722, he vacated the seat on elevation to the bench in 1726 but continued to take an active part on the Argyll side in local politics. Soon after the general election of 1747, Ilay, now Duke of Argyll, wrote to Newcastle about the bestowal of a government post ‘at the desire of Lord Minto [Sir Gilbert Elliot] who supported the court interest against Mr. [Lawrence] Dundas, the commissary, and Mr. Murray of Philiphaugh’.2Add. 32712, f. 45. Elliot’s promotion to lord justice clerk in 1763 was owing to the good offices of his more famous son Gilbert. ‘Better acquainted with the belles lettres than with the quiddities of the feudal or municipal law’,3Ramsay of Ochtertyre, Scotland and Scotsmen in 18th Cent. i. 81-82. he died 16 Apr. 1766.