ELLIOTT, Robert Ellsworth

Robert Ellsworth Elliott carried Hamilton East for the Progressive Conservatives through eleven cumulative years in the Ontario Legislature, split across the 1948 Liberal surge that briefly pushed him out and returned him three years later. He came to provincial politics from the Hamilton building trade — a general contractor with ten inter-war years in the Royal Canadian Engineers behind him and a seat on the city council.

Early life and military service

Elliott was born at Allenwood, Ontario — a small community in Simcoe County south of Georgian Bay — on 19 January 1901. He enlisted in the Royal Canadian Engineers in 1918, at the close of the First World War, and continued with the engineers through the inter-war period. He served until 1928, accumulating ten years with the regiment.

After leaving the engineers, he settled in Hamilton and established himself as a general contractor.

Hamilton City Council

Elliott won election to Hamilton City Council as an alderman. The council work brought him into the Progressive Conservative riding association for Hamilton East and positioned him for a run at the provincial seat.

Ontario Legislature — first term

In the 1945 Ontario general election Elliott carried Hamilton East for the Progressive Conservatives under George Drew. He sat through the 22nd Parliament. The 1948 election swept in a Liberal resurgence in several Hamilton ridings, and Elliott lost his seat after one term.

Second term and departure from politics

Elliott recaptured Hamilton East at the 1951 general election under Leslie Frost and held it again in 1955 — an eight-year stretch through the 24th and 25th Parliaments. He did not contest the 1959 election and left Queen’s Park after a cumulative eleven years in the Legislative Assembly.

Later life and death

Elliott retired from Hamilton and spent his last years in Clearwater, Florida, where he died on 17 April 1981, at the age of eighty.