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{{Use British English|date=March 2017}}
'''George Francis Scott-Elliot''' FRGS FLS [[FRSE]] (1862–1934) was a [[Botany|botanist]] and academic author of Franco-Scots descent. He was a personal friend of [[Patrick Geddes]].
==Biography==
Scott-Elliot was born in [[Calcutta]] in [[India]] of Franco-Scots parentage. His father, James Scott Elliot (d.1880) was a merchant in Calcutta, coming from the [[Scottish Borders]].<ref name=GH>{{cite journal | url=http://www.glasgownaturalhistory.org.uk/gn25_2/hennedy-elliot_curtis.pdf | journal=The Glasgow Naturalist | year=2009 | volume=25 | issue=2 | pages=49–55 | title=Two Victorian Botanists: Professor Roger Hennedy and Professor George Francis Scott Elliot | first=Eric W. | last=Curtis }}</ref>
He went to [[Cambridge University]] in 1879 and graduated BA (Maths tripos). He then attended [[Edinburgh University]] gaining a BSc in Botany. He had a natural love of travel. His first major trip was 1888-89 when he explored [[South Africa]] [[Mauritius]] and [[Madagascar]]. In June 1890 he gave a lecture to the Linnean Society on the flora of Madagascar. He then did further studies in [[Libya]] and [[Egypt]] before being commissioned by the Franco-Britiah Delineation Committee to define the boundaries of [[Sierra Leonne]].<ref name=GH />
From 1896 to 1903, he lectured in Botany at the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College. In 1903, he undertook a tour of South America.
From 1902 to 1909 he was President of the Dumfries and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.dgnhas.org.uk/people/scottelliot.php |title=G.F. Scott-Elliot |access-date=7 April 2016 |archive-date=27 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727204103/http://www.dgnhas.org.uk/people/scottelliot.php |url-status=dead }}</ref> At this period he lived at Drumwhill near New Galloway in [[Kirkcudbrightshire]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dgnhas.org.uk/biography_scott_elliot_gf|title=G.F. Scott-Elliot, F.R.G.S., F.L.S {{!}} DGNHAS|website=www.dgnhas.org.uk|access-date=2020-02-29}}</ref>
He was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Society of Edinburgh]] in 1913. His proposers were [[Robert Kidston]], [[John Horne]], [[John Aitken (meteorologist)|John Aitken]] and [[James Geikie]]. He resigned in 1927.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|access-date=7 April 2016|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Although "over-age" he volunteered almost immediately at the onset of the [[First World War]] and joined the [[King's Own Scottish Borderers]] and saw active duty under fire in [[Egypt]] as a Captain and was awarded the [[Order of the Nile]]. In 1917, whilst returning home on leave, his ship was torpedoed off the coast of [[Italy]]. Ensuing ill-health from this near-drowning left him unable to rejoin his regiment on active duty, and instead he became a commanding officer in the Home Defence Corps.
He later retired with his wife to [[Wadhurst]] in [[Sussex]] to be near his brother, Lt Col William Scott Elliot DSO (1873-1943). In his final years, he returned to Scotland and died in the Moat Brae Nursing Home  in Dumfries on 20 June 1934.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.scotlandswar.co.uk/scott-elliot.html|title=Scott Elliot|website=www.scotlandswar.co.uk|access-date=2020-02-29}}</ref>
==Legacy==
George Scott-Elliot is commemorated in the scientific name of a species of African chameleon, ''[[Trioceros|Trioceros ellioti]]''<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Elliot, G. F. S.", p. 82).</ref> and the plant genus ''[[Scottellia]]'' Oliv. (1893) (Achariaceae).
==Botanical Referencing==
{{botanist|Scott-Elliot}}
==Publications==
*''The Best route to Uganda'' (1895)
*''Flora of Dumfrieshire'' (1896)
*''A First Course in Practical Botany'' (1906)
*''Chile: Its History and Development'' (1913)
*''Fauna, Flora and Geology of the Clyde Area'' (1901)
*''Prehistoric Man and His Story'' (1915)
*''The Romance of Plant Life'' (1907)
*''The Romance of Early British Life'' (1909)
*'' A Naturalist in Africa'' (date unknown)
*''The Romance of Savage Life'' (date unknown)
==Family==
He married Annie Johnston-Stewart daughter of Robert Hathorn Johnston-Stewart of Glasserton and Physgill,  in April 1896 near [[Whithorn]] in Wigtownshire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://gw.geneanet.org/pprubens?lang=en&n=stewart&oc=0&p=annie+johnston|title=Family tree of Annie Johnston Stewart|website=Geneanet|language=en|access-date=2020-02-29}}</ref> They lived originally at Wilton Mansions in [[Glasgow]]. They later moved to [[Kilmalcolm]] and finally to [[Kilbarchan]].
His nephew was Major-General [[James Scott-Elliot]], who also joined the [[King's Own Scottish Borderers]] and served with distinction during the [[World War II|Second World War]].
== See also ==
* [[List of South African plant botanical authors]]
== References ==
{{Reflist|30em}}
== External links ==
{{wikispecies}}
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[[Category:1862 births]]
[[Category:1934 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish botanists]]
[[Category:20th-century Scottish botanists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:King's Own Scottish Borderers officers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:British people in colonial India]]