Edward Carlyon Eliot

Edward Carlyon Eliot (1879–1940) was a British diplomat and Colonial Service administrator.

Personal

Eliot is described as a neat, slim man of medium height with very black hair.^[1] His brother was Charles Eliot, who was Commissioner for British East Africa and Ambassador to Japan.

Career

From 1913 through 1920, Eliot was the Resident Commissioner of the Gilbert and Ellice Islands (now Kiribati and Tuvalu).^[2] During this period, he worked to improve conditions involved in the mining of phosphates.^[3]

Eliot ... was struggling at the time of our arrival to improve the conditions that governed the mining of phosphate on Ocean Island. His aims were to secure for the Baanaban villagers an increase of the tonnage-royalties paid into a trust fund for their phosphate, and to set up guards against the premature encroachment of the diggings upon their villages. He won his fight eventually in the teeth of much official misunderstanding. Fifteen years later, as Resident Commissioner myself, I was called to add a little to the foundations he had laid, and others added more after me. But it was mainly due to his courage and foresight between 1913 and 1920 that the Baanabans of 1945 found themselves in a position to buy an exquisite new home for themselves in the Fiji group and to migrate there in their own good time.^[4]

He was Administrator of Dominica from 1924 through 1930.^[5]

Selected works

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Eliot's published writings encompass two works in three publications in one language and 56 library holdings.^[6]

• Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate. Report for 1912-1914: Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of His Majesty. June, 1915.
• Address to Legislative Council of Dominica (1928)
• Broken Atoms (1938)
• Ocean Island Affairs: Gilbert and Ellice Islands Protectorate (later Colony), 1913-20. (1938)

Journals

• "A Model Protectorate: Gilbert & Ellice Islands, Central Pacific". United Empire: The Royal Colonial Institute Journal 6 (12): 878–882. December 1915.
• "In an Open Boat on the Pacific". United Empire: 393–395. September 1918.

Notes

1. Grimble (1945), p.23
2. Cahoon, Ben (2014). "Kiribati". World Statesmen.org. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
3. Grimble (1945), p.22
4. Grimble (1945), p.24
5. Cahoon, Ben (2014). "Dominica". World Statesmen.org. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
6. "Eliot, Edward Carlyon". WorldCat Identities. 2014. Retrieved 15 February 2014.

References

• Eliot, Edward Carlyon (1938). Broken Atoms. London: G. Bles. OCLC 2721201.
• Grimble, Arthur (1945). A Pattern of Islands. London: John Murray. OCLC 70431016.

External links

• National Archives, Eliot, Edward Carlyon