Gilbert Elliot Minto, first earl of, an English statesman, born April 23, 1751, died June 21, 1814. lie was the elder son of the third baronet, Sir Gilbert Elliot of Roxburghshire, Scotland, and entered the house of commons in 1774 as a liberal whig. He was ambassador at Copenhagen from 1788 to 1794, and was sent as viceroy to Corsica during the English occupation of that island in the earlier years of the war with the French republic. On his return to England he was raised to the peerage (Oct. 10, 1797) as Baron Minto. In 1799 he was appointed ambassador at Vienna. On resuming his seat in the house of lords, he urged the union of Ireland with England, and subsequently opposed the emancipation of the Irish Catholics. In 1806-'7 he was president of the board of control for Indian affairs, and he was governor general of Bengal from 1807 to 1813, when he was made Viscount Melgund and earl of Minto (Feb. 24). - See "Life and Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot, first Earl of Minto," by his grandniece the countess of Minto (London, 1874). - His son Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Ky-nynmound, second earl, born Nov. 16, 1782, was minister to Berlin in 1832, first lord of the admiralty 1835-41, lord privy seal in the administration of Lord John Russell (his son-in-law) 1846-52, and in 1847 was sent on a special mission to the Italian courts for the purpose of promoting liberal reforms.

He died July 31, 1859.