Hugh S. R. Elliot


Hugh Samuel Roger Elliot, best known as Hugh S. R. Elliot was an English science writer.

Biography

Elliot was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. Following the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, he obtained a commission as second lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards on 17 February 1900, and served on the staff as signaling officer in South Africa from 18 June 1901. He was back as a regular officer in his regiment from September 1902, but resigned from the army later the same year.
His son Herbert Elliot was born June 3, 1909.
He identified as a scientific materialist and was highly critical of metaphysical speculation. In his book Modern Science and the Illusions of Professor Bergson, he attacked Henri Bergson's vitalist and non-scientific ideas. Elliot expounded three principles of scientific materialism: the uniformity of law, the non-existence of teleology and the denial of any entity that cannot be expressed in terms of matter and motion. H. P. Lovecraft was influenced by Elliot's materialism.
Elliot was honorary secretary of the Savile Club. In 1914, he translated Jean-Baptiste Lamarck's Zoological Philosophy. He was the editor of The Annual Register.
Elliot was an expert bridge player.

Death

Elliot died in an aeroplane crash during an altitude test in Hampton on 6 May 1930. An inquest concluded a verdict of "accidental death" and did not attribute negligence to his instructors.

Publications

Books
Selected papers