Roger Elliott Major General Roger Elliott ( 1665 – 16 May 1714 ) was one of the earliest British Governors of Gibraltar . His nephew George Augustus Eliott also became a noted Governor and defender of Gibraltar . Roger Elliott was born , possibly in London but more probably in the English Colony of Tangier in Morocco , to George Elliott ( 1636 - 1668 , the Chirurgeon to the Tangier Garrison ) and his wife Catherine ( née Maxwell , 1638 - 1709 ) . George Elliott was the illegitimate son of Richard Eliot , the wayward second son of Sir John Eliot ( 1592 – 1632 ) . Roger Elliott ' s father , George Elliott , died at Tangier in 1668 , and his widowed mother remarried there on 22 February 1670 Robert Spotswood ( 17 September 1637 - 1680 , the assistant and replacement Chirurgeon at the Garrison ) , and thirdly the Rev . Dr George Mercer , the Garrison schoolmaster . Elliott was therefore an older half - brother of Alexander Spotswood ( 1676 - 6 June 1740 ) , who would become a noted Lieutenant - Governor of Virginia . Military career . By 1680 , Roger was an Ensign in the Tangier Regiment of Foot , and was wounded on 27 October fighting the local Moors . In 1681 , he was suspended by Colonel Percy Kirke for duelling with Ensign Bartholomew Pitts , later being cashiered for this offence . He was sent back to England in 1682 with a letter begging for his readmission into His Majesty ' s Service , and he was reinstated as an Ensign in his old Company on 8 March 1683 . In 1684 he returned to England and probably fought against the Monmouth Rebellion . By 1685 , he had transferred to the Queen Dowager ' s Regiment of Foot , and , in 1687 , he became a First Lieutenant in Earl of Bath ' s Regiment - created by Sir John Granville , 1st Earl of Bath ( 1628 – 1701 ) . He was promoted to Captain on 1 May 1690 . He fought and was wounded at the Battle of Steinkeerke on 3 August 1692 . On 21 December of that year , he was promoted to Major in the same Regiment , and , on 1 January 1696 , promoted to Lieutenant - Colonel of Sir Bevil Granville ' s Regiment of Foot . In 1702 , on campaign with the Duke of Marlborough , he was shot through the body at the defence of Tongeren in Belgium . He reputedly took on the entire French Army with only two regiments , before surrendering . On 5 March 1704 , he raised his own regiment - Colonel Elliott ' s Regiment of Foot . Officers were commissioned on 10 April that year at St James ' . On 2 July 1704 , again on campaign with the Duke of Marlborough , he fought and was wounded at the Battle of Schellenberg . It is possible that he fought at the Battle of Blenheim on 13 August 1704 . However , he certainly did not lead the cavalry at this Battle , as has been maintained by other biographies - this was led by General Sir John ' Salamander ' Cutts . Gibraltar . In March 1705 , Colonel Elliott ' s Regiment of Foot embarked for Spain and served at Gibraltar , which was declared a free port in 1706 . On 1 January 1707 , he was promoted to Brigadier - General , and later that year to Lieutenant - Governor of Gibraltar . On 24 December , he was appointed Governor of Gibraltar . His time in office is remembered in the Gibraltar records as one of mercenary opportunity ; whereas , in the London records , it appears that he proceeded with expensive but vital defensive fortification with only minimal prior financial approval . The arguments over the accounts for these defences subsequently caused problems for the probate of his personal estate . On 1 January 1710 , he was promoted to Major - General , and on 24 January 1711 , he handed over the Governorship to Brigadier - General Thomas Stanwix . He finally departed Gibraltar on 18 June 1711 . Return to England . Having returned to England , he was married on 4 March 1712 to Charlotte Elliot , the daughter of a rich London merchant , William ' the laceman ' Elliot of Brugh and Wells . Roger leased Byfeld House in Church Road , Barnes , Surrey on 24 June 1712 where the couple settled and raised a small family . Roger Elliott never fully recovered from his various wounds and died at Byfeld House on 16 May 1714 . He was buried 21 May in the cemetery of St Mary the Virgin , Barnes . His will was probated on 16 November 1714 but his estate took years to resolve because of the difficulties mentioned . The eventual resolution was mostly thanks to the involvement of his father - in - law , William ' the Laceman ' Elliot , who sought to expedite his daughter ' s remarriage to Captain Thomas Burroughs . Family . Mary Elliott , who married Garrett Fitzmaurice ( died May 1738 ) in Ireland , claimed to be a natural daughter of Roger Elliott . On 4 March 1712 at St Peter ' s Church , Cornhill , Roger married Charlotte Elliot ( 1692 - 1753 ) , the daughter of William ' the Laceman ' Elliot , and they had two children :