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Francis Albert Neville Elliston

This story is shared by the Trust with kind permission from John Hamblin, Researcher.

Francis Albert Neville Elliston, Captain 117615, 13th (2/4th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment) Battalion, Parachute Regiment. Killed in action on the 8th of June 1944, aged 37.

Francis Albert Neville Elliston was born at Paddington, London on the 10th of March, 1907, the second son of Sir George Sampson Elliston MC, MP, MA, DL, JP, barrister-in-law and President of the St Catharine’s College Society, and Lady Alice Louise Elliston (née Causton) of 1, Warrington Crescent, Lancaster Gate, later of 40, Heathcroft, Golders Green in Middlesex. He was christened at Christ Church, Lancaster Gate on the 11th of April 1907.

He was educated at Westminster School where he was a Day Boy from September 1920 to July 1923. He rowed for the school in the 2nd IV in 1923 and he matriculated for St Catharine’s College, Cambridge as a pensioner on the 23rd of October 1923 where he read History and Law. He rowed for the College at stroke in the second May boat in 1925 and graduated with a BA on the 29th of June 1926. During his time at Cambridge he was a regular contributor of “witty and clever articles for the Cambridge University literary publication, “Granta”. He was also a keen member of the Oxford Group. He qualified as a barrister and worked at Lincoln’s Inn from 1925. He was awarded a MA on the 13th of June 1930.

He was married at The Church of St Mary the Great at Cambridge on the 22nd of October 1934 to Mary Elliston (née Muir-Wilson) of Windle Grange, St Helens in Lancashire. They had a son, Robin, born on the 13th of October 1936.

He enlisted in the Territorial Army in the 1/7th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment in 1939 where he rose to the rank of Corporal before attending the 168th Officer Cadet Training Unit, based at Aldershot. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the East Lancashire Regiment on the 10th of February 1940 and was promoted to Lieutenant on the 1st of February 1941. He was promoted to temporary Captain in the 5th of January 1942. He volunteered for airborne training and attended Course No. 72 at RAF Ringway from the 12 th to the 23rd of July 1943. The instructors noted that Francis Elliston was a: “Fine type of officer and a good parachutist”.

The 13th Battalion, Parachute Regiment landed at Drop Zone N, to the north of the village of Ranville, at 12.50am on the 6th of June 1944. The Battalion assembled and moved off from their rendezvous point on the drop zone at 2.30am and Ranville was reported to have been cleared of the enemy by 3am. The Battalion was still holding the area around Ranville on the 8th of June when Francis Ellison was shot in the chest and killed at 11.30am.

His Colonel wrote: - “All of us, officers and men, have lost one of our best friends and a most able and efficient comrade.”

The Westminster School Magazine wrote of him: - “At one time he was actively engaged in the services of the Oxford Group, in which, as indeed in all his work, his cheerful disposition and capacity for friendship won for him the deep affection of a wide circle.”

And the St Catharine’s College Magazine wrote: -
“He was educated at Westminster before coming to S. Catharine's where his cheerfulness and determination proved a potent force in College rowing. But at heart he was a crusader, and as one he went into the war. For a time he held a commission in The East Lancashire Regiment, then recruited mainly from his father's constituency, but he transferred to the Parachute Regiment and led the Normandy invasion. Less than forty eight hours after dropping he was killed.”

Francis Elliston is buried at Ranville War Cemetery Plot IA, Row E, Grave 12 and he is commemorated on the St Helens Roll of Honour and on the war memorials at Lincoln’s Inn and at Westminster School. He is also commemorated on the memorial at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge.

FALLEN HEROES

  • FRANCIS ALBERT NEVILLE ELLISTON

    Army • CAPTAIN

    Parachute Regiment
    13th (2/4th Battalion, The South Lancashire Regiment) Battalion

    DIED | 08 June 1944

    AGE | 37

    SERVICE NO. | 117615

FALLEN HEROES

  • FRANCIS ALBERT NEVILLE ELLISTON

    Army • CAPTAIN

    Parachute Regiment
    13th (2/4th Battalion, The South Lancashire Regiment) Battalion

    DIED | 08 June 1944

    AGE | 37

    SERVICE NO. | 117615

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