Background
The son of a Lanarkshire farmer, Elliot was raised in Glasgow and educated at the Glasgow Academy and the University of Glasgow, where he studied science and medicine.
The son of a Lanarkshire farmer, Elliot was raised in Glasgow and educated at the Glasgow Academy and the University of Glasgow, where he studied science and medicine.
He lost this seat in the 1923 general election but, a year later in a 1924 by-election, he was elected as Member of Parliament for Glasgow Kelvingrove. He was seen by many as a rising star. In 1932 he entered the Cabinet as Minister of Agriculture and subsequently served as Secretary of State for Scotland and Minister of Health.
On 29 March 1939, Elliot passed the Cancer Acting 1939 - "An Acting to make further provision for the treatment of cancer, to authorise the Minister of Health to lend money to the National Radium Trust, to prohibit certain advertisements relating to cancer, and for purposes connected with the matters aforesaid".
All provisions in the Acting for improving the treatment of cancer nationally have since been stripped, leaving only the prohibition against advertisements relating to cancer treatments. In 1938 Elliot"s career reached a turning point when he came close to resigning over the Munich Agreement but decided against.
Consequently, his political stock began to fall and when Winston Churchill replaced Neville Chamberlain as Prime Minister in 1940, Elliot was dropped from the government. In the 1945 election, he lost his Kelvingrove seat by just 45 votes.
He was returned for the Combined Scottish Universities seat in a by-election in November 1946.
Elliot also led the popular Elliot Commission on Higher Education in West Africa whose report informed the creation of the first university colleges in West African countries such as Nigeria and Ghana.
He then became a medical officer to the Scots Greys and served in the First World War where he gained a Military Cross. Amongst his achievements were the Agricultural Marketing Acting which sought to protect food producers from going bankrupt amidst massive surpluses and collapsing prices, the introduction of free milk for school children and formation of the National Housing Company which built prefabricated "Weir Houses" in Clydeside.
31st United Kingdom Parliament. 38th United Kingdom Parliament. 39th United Kingdom Parliament.
40th United Kingdom Parliament.
41st United Kingdom Parliament. Royal Society]
Elliot then entered politics and was elected as Member of Parliament (Member of Parliament) for Lanark in the 1918 general election.
