Granville Elliott

Granville Elliott’s career was a map of 18th-century European warfare. Born into a military family with Jacobite connections, he was a true international soldier, seeking command and combat wherever it could be found. He first served in the Austrian army, fighting against the Ottomans, and later transferred his allegiance to Prussia. His most significant foreign service was with the French, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the famed dragoons of the German-born Marshal Saxe. This cosmopolitan experience made him a valuable asset when he finally returned to British service during the Seven Years' War. As a major-general, he commanded a brigade of British and Hanoverian cavalry. His final act came at the Battle of Minden in 1759, a decisive Allied victory. Elliott was gravely wounded leading a cavalry charge and died weeks later, a British general who had been forged on the battlefields of a continent.