Eliott

Crest: A hand couped at the wrist in armour holding a cutlass in bend Proper

Early history for this clan is lost to time.. Partly due to a fire at the family castle at Stobe which destroyed all but one of the family records in 1712. The lore of the clan begins with their settlement in Teviotdale on the Borders, having come south from Angus at the foot of Glenshie.

Such a move is unprecedented in Scottish history, but it may be that the Ellots (as the name was spelled then) were invited by Robert the Bruce to take over some lands as a strategic move after the life imprisonment of a powerful traitor named William de Soulis of Liddesdale. Liddesdale and the lands of the the Borders fortress, the Hermitage castle, were given to Bruce’s son. Having an ally close by in the district would have helped Bruce secure the area.

In 1470, Robert Ellot of Redheugh built a strong tower on a cliff overlooking the Hermitage Water ford. Robert is listed as the tenth chief of the clan, so their roots were clearly established by then. In fact, this fortress was one of about one hundred towers belonging to the Ellots which dotted the Liddesdale region which they shared with the Armstrongs.

One famous incident in Elliot history is their feud with the Scotts in 1565. Scott of Buccleuch executed four Ellots for the cattle reiving -- a minor offense in the day.  Three hundred Ellots attacked the Scotts in reprisal. After a long a bloody feud, the two sides reached an understanding.

After the Union of the Crowns in 1603, the lives of border reiver clans became difficult. Many Ellots relocated to Ulster as part of the so-called ‘plantation’. Sometime in the 1650s, the “i” was added to the name Eliott.

Sir Gilbert Eliott of Stobs was made a Baronet of Nova Scotia by Charles II in 1666 and became chief in 1673. Augustus Eliott distinguished himself in battle defending Gibraltar from the French in 1782. Made baronets in 1700, a branch of the Eliott family acquired land in Minto in 1703. Sir Gilbert Eliott of Minto served as a diplomat and Governor General of Bengal until 1813. For some years the chiefs resided in America, but in 1932 the tenth baronet reclaimed the family holdings at Redheugh.