Captain Herbert Gavin Elliot
Herbert Gavin Elliot was born on 26 January 1891 in Regents Park, London, to tea broker Thomas Barrow Elliot and his wife Aimee Georgine Elliot (nee Blake).
Educated at Lindisfarne School, Blackheath, Elliot followed his father into the tea trade, working for the firm Jardine Matheson & Co in Shanghai, China. In March 1912 he joined the Shanghai Light Horse as a trooper, earning praise as a good rider and marksman.
On 15 November 1915 Elliot resigned from the regiment in order to return home to enlist. On arrival he applied for a commission in the North Irish Horse. He was made 2nd lieutenant on 2 January 1916 and posted to the North Irish Horse reserve depot at Antrim. On 26 July 1916 he embarked for France, where he joined the 1st North Irish Horse Regiment in the field at Pas.
Elliot was promoted to lieutenant on 2 July 1917. On 15 July the following year he was appointed adjutant to the regiment, this post bringing with it the rank of acting captain. Following a bout of influenza at the end of the year, Elliot was demobilised on 15 January 1919. Later that year he was Mentioned in Despatches. He relinquished his commission on 1 April 1920.
After the war Elliot returned to Shanghai. He later spent some time in the United States. He died in Lewes, Sussex, in 1974.