Montague Eliot, 8th Earl of St Germans

Montague Charles Eliot, 8th Earl of St Germans, KCVO, OBE (13 May 1870 – 19 September 1960) was a British peer and courtier.^[1][2]

Eliot was born in Pimlico, Middlesex to Charles George Cornwallis Eliot (16 October 1839 – 22 May 1901) and his wife Constance Rhiannon Guest (November 1844 – 1916). He was educated at Castleden Hall School, (Farnborough, Hampshire), Charterhouse and Exeter College, Oxford, taking a BA in 1893. By 1895, he was a Barrister-at-law at the Inner Temple.

From 1901–1906, he was appointed a Gentleman Usher to Edward VII, and from 1908–1910 a Groom-in-Waiting. From 1910–1936, he was a Gentleman Usher to George V. During the First World War, Montague was a Lieutenant-Commander with the RNVR. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1919, and became Groom of the Robes from 1920–1936.

In 1923, he was appointed Member of the Royal Victorian Order (MVO), and from 1924–1936 he became Extra Groom-in-Waiting to King George V. He was appointed Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in 1928; Knight Commander (KCVO) in 1934. In 1936 he became Extra Groom-in-Waiting to Edward VIII, and, from 1937 to 1952, Extra Groom-in-Waiting to George VI. From 1952–1960, he was Extra Groom-in-Waiting to Elizabeth II. He had been awarded the cross of Officer of the Order of Leopold (Belgium).

On 22 November 1942, Eliot succeeded his older brother Granville Eliot, 7th Earl of St Germans to become the 8th Earl of St Germans.

Personal life

In 1907, under the name 'Ellova Gryn', Eliot published the parody Too Weak, a play on Elinor Glyn's Three Weeks.^[3] Under the same name, he was also the author of the books The Meanderings of Mary Ann, Reflections of Whiskerine, The Vicissitudes of Acetylene, The Nun and the Noodle, and Over the Mud that parodied other of Glyn's books such as The Vicissitudes of Evangeline.^[4]

In 1918, Eliot bought Ince Castle in Cornwall that had previously been owned by the Earl of Buckinghamshire.^[5]

He was married on 22 June 1910 to Helen Agnes Post (d. 1 September 1962), the daughter of Arthur Post of New York and his wife Elizabeth Wadsworth, a daughter of American General James S. Wadsworth who married, as her second husband, Lord Barrymore.^[6][7] They had a daughter and two sons:

• Lady Germaine Elizabeth Olive Eliot (11 April 1911 – 1991)^[8]
• Nicholas Richard Michael Eliot, 9th Earl of St Germans (1914–1988)
• (Montague) Robert Vere Eliot (29 October 1923 – 16 May 1994), contested Mansfield as a Conservative in the 1959 general election.

Eliot died on 19 September 1960 and his titles passed to his elder son, Nicholas Nicholas Richard Michael Eliot.

References

1. Archives, The National. "The Discovery Service". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
2. "Montague Charles Eliot, 8th Earl of St Germans - National Portrait Gallery". www.npg.org.uk. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
3. Waller, Philip (2008). Writers, Readers, and Reputations: Literary Life in Britain 1870-1918. Oxford University Press. p. 550. ISBN 978-0-19-954120-1.
4. Sargeant, Amy (1 March 2010). "The Return of Mata Hari: A Woman Redeemed (Sinclair Hill, 1927)". Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television. 30 (1): 37–54. doi:10.1080/01439680903577250. ISSN 0143-9685. S2CID 194058849.
5. Churchill, Penny (21 April 2018). "The Cornish castle that once housed a wife in each tower". Country Life. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
6. Michaelis, David (19 October 2021). Eleanor. Simon and Schuster. p. 525. ISBN 978-1-4391-9204-7.
7. TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (23 June 1910). "MISS POST WEDS MONTAGUE ELIOT; The Third Anglo-American Wedding to be Celebrated in London in June. MANY GIFTS FROM ROYALTY Bridegroom Was a Groom-in-Waiting to King Edward--The Bride Is a Daughter of Lady Barrymore". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 5 May 2022.
8. "DSP | elizabeth eliot". deanstreetpress.co.uk. Retrieved 5 May 2022.

Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Granville Eliot	Earl of St Germans 1942–1960	Succeeded by Nicholas Eliot