James Edward Elliott was born in 1813 in Cornwall. He was appointed second lieutenant and navigator in HMS Assistance under Erasmus Ommanney, on the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1850-1851 (leader Horatio Austin), sent by the Admiralty to search for Sir John Franklin's missing Northwest Passage expedition by way of Baffin Bay and Lancaster Sound. During the expedition, Ommanney discovered the first evidence that Franklin had in fact reached the Canadian Arctic, finding signs of a field camp at Cape Riley, Devon Island, and a cairn and other relics on Beechey Island, which was subsequently shown to have been Franklin's winter quarters in 1845 and 1846.
In 1853, Elliott was appointed first lieutenant in HMS Phoenix on the British Naval Supply Voyage (leader Edward Augustus Inglefield), sent in company with HMS Breadalbane with fresh supplies for the ships of the British Naval Franklin Search Expedition, 1852-1854 (leader Sir Edward Belcher). Elliott returned to Barrow Strait in HMS Phoenix the following year on the British Naval Supply Voyage (leader Edward Inglefield). After the expedition, Elliott served as a commander in the Coastguard. He died in 1865
From the guide to the James Elliott collection, 1851-1857, (Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge)
