Eliot was born at
Weymouth, the third son of William Eliot DL and his wife, Lydia Ffolliott,[1][2] sister of
John FfolliottMP of Hollybrook House, County Sligo.[3] He was educated at
Trinity College, Oxford. Eliot took a prominent part in the
Oxford Union Society, serving as its President when it moved to its new premises in 1857.
Ordained in 1859,[4] he began his ecclesiastical career with a
curacy at St Michael's,
Winchester. Following this he was
Vicar of Holy Trinity,
Bournemouth.
Eliot was married twice. He married firstly Mary Anna Marriott Smith (1840–1881), daughter of Rev. Francis Smith, rector of Tarrant Rushton, on 1859 at St Mary's Blandford Forum, with issue:[6]
Arthur Francis Eliot (1860–1864), died in childhood
Capt John Alfred Roy Eliot (1877 – 8 May 1955), married Gladys Adelaide Beauchamp Nepean, daughter of Sir Evan Colville Nepean[8]
After Mary Anna's death, he married Hon. Mary Emma Pitt–Rivers (1843–1900), the daughter of
George Pitt-Rivers, 4th Baron Rivers, in 1883 Windsor, with issue[9]