COLL P 09

Reference code

COLL P 09

Title

Papers of Provost Elliott, 1948 - 1963

Level

Series

Administrative / Biographical history

Claude Elliott's father Sir Charles Elliott was Lt. Governor of Bengal and Claude was born in Simla. In September 1902 he came to Eton, initially to Philip William's house, and from 1903 in College as a King's Scholar. He was an oarsman, rowing in Thetis in 1905 and Britannia in 1906 and obtaining his Lower Boat Choices. In 1906 he went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1910 he became a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. During the war he served with the Red Cross in Flanders and subsequently in the Admiralty, returning to Jesus College as Fellow and Tutor and University Lecturer in History. In 1933 he was appointed Head Master of Eton, something of a surprise appointment, but his administrative and financial skills were very necessary, for the College was operating a large deficit and he took steps to remedy this. When war came, Elliott was adament that the school would not move and he guided it with great skill through the difficult war years, although relations with Provost Cecil were not always easy. As Provost, he oversaw the extremely successful Eton Appeal and presided over the modernisation of houses and schoolrooms. A keen climber, he was also President of the Alpine Club from 1950-1952 and was in effect chairman of the Everest Committee that planned the successful 1953 expedition. He was knighted in 1958, having received the OBE in 1920.

Date

1949 - 1965

Extent & medium

176 files

Arrangement

The papers consist mainly of files the bulk of which were found together arranged alphabetically without distinction between those created as Head Master and those as Provost. Subsequent accessions and discoveries have been added at the end of the numbering.

Associated material

Much of the miscellaneous correspondence in COLL/PG15 is Elliott's, and the files of Provost Cecil [COLL/P7] and Caccia [COLL/P10] also include relevant material. ED16 consists of copies of letters from Lord Quickswood. See also SCH/HM/CAA/5