Family and Education

bap. 11 Nov. 1684, 1st s. of Jonathan Elford of Bickham by Amy, da. of Matthew Halse of Keynedon and Elford, Devon.  educ. Christ Church Oxf. 1702; M. Temple 1702.  m. 23 Apr. 1713, Anne, da. and h. of Sir Thomas Neville, 1st Bt., of Neville Holt, Leics., s.p.  suc. fa. 1690.1

Offices Held

Commr. public accounts 17 June–Oct. 1714.2

Biography

Elford’s father was connected with several of the chief families in Devon. However, the family also possessed land in Cornwall, Jonathan being matriculated at Oxford in 1702 as the son of Jonathan of St. Anthony, deceased. In 1688 his father had been described by James II’s regulators as ‘a gentleman of good estate and quality, formerly out of commission in this county, and not at present in his Majesty’s service’. After an education encompassing both university and an inn of court, Elford was returned for Saltash as a Tory at a by-election in 1710, probably on the Buller interest. He voted on 18 June 1713 for the French commerce bill and in the general election a few months later was returned again for Saltash. In June 1714 he was elected a commissioner of public accounts on the October Club list, coming sixth in the ballot. He was listed as a Tory on the Worsley list and on two comparative analyses of the 1713 and 1715 Parliaments. His Cornish links were confirmed by his appointment in August 1714 as a deputy-lieutenant for that county. He continued to sit as a Tory under George I, and died 10 Dec. 1755. The immediate beneficiary of his will was his sister, Catherine Ilbert, and after her death his kinsman, Lancelot Elford, and his children.3

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715

Authors: Eveline Cruickshanks / Stuart Handley

Notes

• 1. IGI, Devon, London; Vivian, Vis. Devon, 329–30.
• 2. CJ, xvii. 689.
• 3. Duckett, Penal Laws and Test Act (1882), p. 377; NLS, Advocates’ mss, Wodrow pprs. letters Quarto 3, f. 138; Buccleuch mss at Drumlanrig, bdle. 303, commn. 20 Aug. 1714; London Mag. 1755, p. 596; PCC 34 Glazier.