Born in
1808, Thomas Frederick Elliot was part of a well-off Scottish family with many connections
to the whigs.
1 Educated at Harrow School, he joined the Colonial Office as a junior clerk in
1825 and attracted the notice of
James Stephen who would become the principal architect of the mid-nineteenth-century Colonial Office
bureaucracy.
2 In
1833 Elliot became senior clerk of the North American Department. Two years later he acted
in
Quebec as secretary to the earl of Gosford's inquiry into Canadian affairs.
3 His work concerning emigration prompted the enmity of
E.G. Wakefield and some of the Colonial Reformers.
4 In
1847 he was promoted to assistant under-secretary, the second highest civil servant in
the Colonial Office establishment.
5 During the
1860s he acted in a supervisory capacity for the North American Department, frequently
suggesting the government's policy.
6 After the creation of
British Columbia in
1858, Elliot's growing concern for
Douglas's financial actions in the new colony moved from expressions of apprehension to harsh
criticism. In
1863 he declared that the governor's activities were
like any other fraud.
7 Passed over for permanent under-secretary in
1860, Elliot retired in
1868 and was knighted for his service.
8