He thus attained the highest positions in the province, short of the lieutenant-governorship, on both the judicial and executive sides. He was re-appointed to the governor-general's legislative council in June 1892, and was made C.S.I, in Jan. 1893. He left India on 4 Feb. 1894. On 20 July 1904 Elsmie received from Aberdeen University the hon. degree of LL.D. He mainly devoted himself in his retirement to literary work. With General Sir Peter Lumsden he wrote Sir Harry Lumsden's biography, 'Lumsden of the Guides' (1899). On material collected by Sir Henry Cunningham he based the authorised life of Field-marshal Sir Donald Stewart [q. v. Suppl. I] (1903), and he edited letters of his mother (1804-1879) under the title of 'Anne Shepherd or Elsmie: a Character Sketch of a Scottish Lady of the Nineteenth Century as disclosed by her Letters' (Aberdeen, 1904). In his pleasant 'Thirty-Five Years in the Punjab' (Edinburgh, 1908) Elsmie threw much light on the contemporary history of his province; the book is dedicated to his university. Elsmie died at Torquay on 26 March 1909, and was buried at Deeside cemetery, Aberdeen. He married at Southampton, on 27 Oct. 1861, Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Thomas Spears of Kirkcaldy, who survived him. Of a family of three sons and eight daughters, two sons became officers in the Indian army, four daughters married Indian civil servants (Sir Thomas W. Holderness, now revenue secretary, India office, being one of Elsmie's sons-in-law), and two daughters married officers in the army.
[Elsmie's Works; The Times, 28 March 1909; family details kindly given by Sir T. W. Holderness.]
ELWORTHY, FREDERICK THOMAS (1830–1907), philologist and antiquary, eldest son of Thomas Elworthy, woollen manufacturer, of Wellington, Somerset, by his wife Jane, daughter of William Chorley of Quarm, near Dunster, was born at Wellington on 10 Jan. 1830, and was educated at a private school at Denmark Hill. Though studious from boyhood, he did not enter on authorship until middle life. He became eminent first as a philologist and later as a writer on folk-lore. His two books on the evil eye and kindred superstitions contain much curious information gathered during travels in Spain, Italy, and other countries, in the course of which he made perhaps the finest collection of charms, amulets, and such-like trinkets in existence; this collection, at present in the possession his widow, is destined for the Somersetshire Archæological Society's museum at Tauntor He contributed to 'Archæologia,' was the council of the Philological Society, and in 1891-6 was editorial secretary of the Somersetshire Archæological Society, for whose 'Proceedings,' as well as for those of the Devonshire Association, he wrote some valuable papers. He was elected F.S.A. on 14 June 1900. He was a good linguist and possessed considerable skill as a draughtsman and as an artist in water-colours. He was a prominent churchman, and the erection of All Saints' Church, Wellington, was largely due to his liberality and exertions. He was a magistrate, a churchwarden, an active member of the Wellington school board, and a prominent freemason. After an illness which began in the summer of 1906 he died at his residence, Foxdown, Wellington, on 13 Dec. 1907, and was buried in the churchyard of the parish church there.
By his marriage with Maria, daughter of James Kershaw, M.P., on 17 Aug. 1854, he had three sons, who all predeceased him, and three daughters, two of whom survived him.
Elworthy prepared for publication by the English Dialect Society:
- 'The Dialect of West Somerset,' 1875 (a paper read before the Philological Soc.).
- 'An Outline of the Grammar of the Dialect of West Somerset,' 1877 (papers read before the Philolog. Soc. in 1876 and 1877); this work was described by Sir James A. H. Murray, editor of the ' New English Dictionary,' as 'the first grammar of an English dialect of any scientific value.'
- 'An edition of 'An Exmoor Scolding and an Exmoor Courtship, with a Somersetshire Man's Complaint,' 1879.
- 'The West Somerset Word-book, a Glossary,' 1886.
Elworthy also published:
- 'Canonsleigh,' 1892, reprinted from the ' Transactions of the Devonshire Association.'
- 'Some Notes on the History of Wellington,' 4to, 1892.
- 'The Evil Eye,' 1895.
- 'Horns of Honour and other Studies in the Byways of Archaeology,' 1900.
From the inception of the 'New English Dictionary' to his death Elworthy gave much voluntary help both in supplying quotations and in assisting in arrangement.
[Wellington Weekly News, 18 Dec. 1907, with an appreciation by Sir James Murray; Athenæum, 21 Dec. 1907; Somerset Archæol. Soc. Proc., 3rd ser. vol. xiii. 1908 (with good portrait); information supplied by Mr. C. Tite of Taunton; personal recollection.]
