Granville Elliott Major - General Granville Elliott ( 7 October 1713 – 10 October 1759 ) , ( General , Graf Eliot von Port - Eliot , Comte de Morhange ) was a British military officer . He served with distinction in several other European armies and subsequently in the British Army . He fought at the Battle of Minden where he was wounded , dying of his injuries several weeks later . Early life . Elliott was born at Byfeld House , Church Road , Barnes , Surrey to Major - General Roger Elliott ( c . 1665 – 15 May 1714 ) and his wife Charlotte ( née Elliot , c . 1692 - c . 1753 ) . He was baptised on 27 October 1713 at St Mary the Virgin ' s Church , Barnes . His godparents were George Granville , 1st Baron Lansdowne and Mrs Killigrew . When Granville was less than one year old , his father died and Granville was brought up by his mother and her new husband , Captain Thomas Burroughs . Later that decade , he was made a ward of his mother ' s younger brother Colonel William Elliot ( c . 1704 – 1764 ) . In 1725 , Granville was admitted to Dr Dunster ' s Academy in Little Marlborough Street , London , and in 1730 he matriculated as a Law Student at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands . Continental European military career . By 1732 , Granville was in the service of the HM Karl Philipp von Pfalz - Neuburg , Elector Palatine of the Rhine . On 7 March 1735 , ahead of Granville ' s marriage on 15 March 1735 at Mannheim to Jeanne Thérèse du Han , Comtesse de Martigny ( 30 October 1707 – 7 May 1748 ) , he was created a Chambellan in the Elector ' s army and raised to the title of Comte de Morhange in the Moselle region . To facilitate the marriage , Granville converted to Catholicism , and took the forename Joseph , which caused him problems with his mother ' s Calvinist relatives . In August 1736 , he and his mother swore oaths at the College of Arms in London that the Elliott family descended from a legal marriage of Richard Eliot ( b . 1614 - unknown ) , the wayward second son of Sir John Eliot ( 1592 – 1632 ) to Catherine Killigrew ( 1617 – 1689 ) , daughter of Sir Robert Killigrew ( 1580 – 1633 ) and Mary Woodhouse ( CIR 1584 - 1655 ) . However , the two oaths differed in some details , and no independent evidence for any marriage of Richard has ever come to light . Moreover , Catherine Killigrew was still described as spinster in 1655 when she executed her mother ' s will . As a result , Granville was not recognised by the College of Arms as a legitimate relative of the then Lord Eliot of Port Eliot in Cornwall , ancestors of the present Earls of St Germans . Nevertheless , Granville Elliott had a pedigree drawn up ( which survives today ) and formally presented to him in Paris by the British Ambassador / Plenipotentiary . As a result of this device , Granville became known at the Elector ' s Court as Comte Eliot de Port - Eliot , and Graf Eliot von Port - Eliot . On 29 October 1736 , Granville was promoted to the rank of Colonel , taking over the colonelcy of the Carabinier Regiment on 1 February 1737 , and the Dragoons Regiment on 10 July 1738 . In 1737 , Granville was appointed Cavalry General of the States - General of the Netherlands , the legislature of the Dutch Republic . A few years later , he was working at Lunéville , at the court of the exiled King Stanislaus I of Poland who had become Duke of Lorraine and Bar . On 22 April 1745 , he was promoted to Major - General of Cavalry for the Elector Palatine ; on 24 June 1746 , to Lieutenant - General of Cavalry , and , on 2 November 1748 , to Lieutenant - General of Cavalry for the States - General of the Netherlands . Granville and his wife appeared regularly in the Madame de Graffigny correspondence , usually under his baptised name Joseph or his familiar name Cotoco . His wife died on 7 May 1748 , and this caused a substantial change of direction for Granville . He left his grown - up family with their French relatives , returned to the UK , forsook his Catholicism and repaired the bridges with his mother ' s relatives . It appears that Granville did not subsequently contact his French family , although there was no known ill - will between them . British military career . Back in the UK , he remarried , on 3 September 1750 , to Elizabeth Duckett ( 25 June 1724 - October 1804 ) at St . Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street , London . However , he soon returned to the service of the Estates - General of the Netherlands , and was appointed Major - General of the Scotch Brigade . The first child of his second marriage was born in the Netherlands although later children would be born at their home in Kew . On 21 April 1758 , Elliot was made Major - General in the British Army , and appointed Colonel of the 61st Regiment of Foot - " The Glorious Glosters " . That summer , he was a Staff Officer on the army expedition to St Malo , and , from 5 July 1758 to 31 August 1758 , he received a short - term commission as Colonel and Lieutenant - General in the Dutch Army . The Seven Years ' War was approaching , and Granville ' s knowledge of continental warfare was significant . In early 1759 , he returned to continental Europe , as part of a massive British army deployment . At the Battle of Minden , on 1 August 1759 , he commanded the Cavalry Regiment under John Manners , Marquess of Granby . Manners was himself second in command to Sir George Sackville , who was later cashiered for his inaction at the battle . Despite this chain of command , Granville Elliott saw significant action in battle , and was seriously wounded . He retired to convalesce at army headquarters in Rodheim an der Bieber , Gießen , Hesse , Germany , but died there 9 weeks later on 10 October 1759 from the wounds incurred . He was buried with military honours in the local 13th century church at Krofdorf on 12 October ; Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick attended the funeral . A brass commemorative plaque was erected during the 20th century by his British descendants in the church . Light Cavalry was introduced into the British Army as a direct result of advice from General Granville Elliott . Family . Granville Elliott married twice . Firstly , on 15 March 1735 at Mannheim , to Jeanne Thérèse du Han , Comtesse de Martigny ( 30 October 1707 – 7 May 1748 ) , by whom he had at least six sons and a daughter . Secondly , on 3 September 1750 at St . Mary Magdalen Old Fish Street , to Elizabeth Duckett ( 25 June 1724 - October 1804 ) , by whom he had at least three sons and three daughters . Elizabeth was a niece of Sir George Duckett . Of the children of his second marriage , Francis Perceval Eliot and his descendants continued the family ' s close connection with British armed forces . Francis also re - established contact with his French half - siblings .