Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elton, Charles Abraham

ELTON, Sir CHARLES ABRAHAM (1778–1853), author, only son of the Rev. Sir Abraham Elton, fifth baronet, by Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Durbin, alderman of Bristol, was born at Bristol on 31 Oct. 1778. He was educated at Eton, and at the age of fifteen received a commission in the 48th regiment, in which he rose to the rank of captain. He served with the 4th regiment in Holland under the Duke of York. He was afterwards lieutenant-colonel of the Somersetshire militia. On the death of his father (23 Feb. 1842) he became sixth baronet. He married in 1804 Sarah, eldest daughter of Joseph Smith, merchant of Bristol, by whom he had five sons and eight daughters. The two eldest sons were drowned in 1819, while bathing near Weston-super-Mare. The third, Arthur Hallam (b. 19 April 1818), succeeded to the baronetcy, and died 14 Oct. 1883. His seventh daughter, Mary Elizabeth, married her cousin, Frederick Bayard, fourth son of the fifth baronet, and was mother of the present Charles Isaac Elton, M.P., and author of 'Origins of English History' (Foster, Peerage). The eighth daughter, Jane Octavia, married W. H. Brookfield [q.v.] Elton's sister, Julia Maria, married Henry Hallam the historian. Elton was a man of cultivated tastes. He was a strong whig, and spoke at the Westminster hustings on behalf of Romilly and Hobhouse; but latterly he lived much in retirement at his house, Clevedon Court. He died at Bath on 1 June 1853.

He published:

1. 'Poems,' 1804.
2. 'Remains of Hesiod, translated into English verse.'
3. 'Tales of Romance, and other Poems, including selections from Propertius,' 1810.
4. 'Specimens of the Classical Poets in a chronological series from Homer to Tryphiodorus, translated into English verse,' 1814 (with critical observations prefixed to each specimen; reviewed in the 'Quarterly Review,' xiii. 151-8).
5. 'Remains of Hesiod, translated... with notes,' 1815 ('by C. A. E.')
6. 'Appeal to Scripture and Tradition in Defence of the Unitarian Faith' (anon.), 1818.
7. 'The Brothers, a Monody [referring to the death of his sons], and other Poems,' 1820.
8. 'History of Roman Emperors,' 1825.
9. 'Δεύτεραι Φροντίδες. Second Thoughts on the Person of Christ … containing reasons for the Authors Secession from the Unitarian Communion and his adherence to that of the Established Church,' 1827.

[Gent. Mag. 1853. ii. 88, 89; Foster's and Burke's Baronetages.]