Major General Harold Edward "Pompey" Elliott (19 June 1878 – 23 March 1931) was a senior officer in the Australian Army during the First World War.

Elliott entered the University of Melbourne as a resident at Ormond College in 1898 to study law, but left in 1900 to serve in the Imperial Bushmen in the South African War.

He was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, and given a British Army commission, but chose to remain with the Victorian Imperial Bushmen as an attached subaltern.

In December 1901, he distinguished himself in repelling a numerically superior Boer force, and received a congratulatory telegram from General Lord Kitchener.

After the outbreak of the First World War, Elliott joined the Australian Imperial Force (AIF), and formed and commanded the 7th Infantry Battalion, which he led in the landing at Anzac on 25 April 1915, and the Battle of Lone Pine in August.

In March 1917, the German retreat to the Hindenburg Line gave Elliott a rare chance to display his tactical acumen in an independent command as the 15th Brigade operated as an advance guard of the British Fifth Army.

His involvement with returned servicemen's issues led to his redrafting of the constitution of the Returned Sailors and Soldiers Imperial League of Australia, and he played an important part in the Victoria Police strike, making a call alongside Lieutenant General Sir John Monash for members of the AIF to come to Melbourne Town Hall and sign up as special constables.

[7][8] Despite concerns about the adequacy of his Rock Tank education, Elliott topped his class in Latin, bookkeeping, and Bible studies in his first year.

In January 1901 they moved to the Cape Colony, where they were attached to a Coldstream Guards force under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Arthur Henniker.

[17] He was given a British Army commission as a lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion, Royal Berkshire Regiment on 20 November 1900,[18] but he remained with the Victorian Imperial Bushmen as an attached subaltern.

When his boat and the one following were about 400 yards (370 m) from shore, they were met by a steam pinnace, which towed them to Anzac Cove, where Elliott stepped ashore about 0530.

Elliott drew his pistol and barricaded the tunnel with sand bags, refusing help for fear that anyone else coming forward might also be hit.

Elliott personally inspected the route, talked with officers familiar with it, and drew up a new timetable for the march, managing to get his men across with only a handful of casualties.

When the soldier who called out was brought forward and explained that no one talked to his brother like that, Elliott sent the man to his school for non-commissioned officers, with the rationale that anyone who could stand up to himself in full flight clearly had leadership potential.

Despite his inexperience in trench warfare, he pointed out to Major H. C. L. Howard of Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig's British Expeditionary Force staff that the width of no-man's land was too great for the assault to succeed.

[51] But the commander-in-chief decided that the operation must go on, so Elliott did all that was possible to make it a success by himself going to the front line to personally inspect the lie of the land and encourage his men.

[57] In March 1917, the Germans retreated to the Hindenburg Line, giving Elliott a rare chance to display his tactical acumen in an independent command as his brigade operated as an advance guard of the British Fifth Army.

The successes during a long period of almost continuous fighting, the capture of several villages, which were held against frequent and violent counter-attacks, and the slightness of our losses compared to those of the enemy were largely due to his able leadership, energy and courage.

His staunchness and vehemence, and power of instilling those qualities into his troops, had turned his brigade into a magnificently effective instrument; and the driving force of this stout-hearted leader in his inferno at Hooge throughout the two critical days was in a large measure responsible for this victory.

The culprit was handed over to the military police, and Elliott posted a proclamation that the next officer found looting would be publicly hanged in the village market square, in emulation of the actions of Major General Robert Craufurd.

They knew that he would fight tooth and nail against any order committing them to an attack that he believed to be impossible; he had saved them from one such trial near Flers in the mud of October 1916.

These proclivities-and his personal experience of troops of the British "New Army" at Fromelles, in the open warfare beyond Bapaume, at Polygon Wood, and lately in the Third and Fifth Armies-led him to be contemptuous of their fighting power ; and this, together with a hot-headed tendency to use his brigade as if it were independent of the rest of the BEF, caused not infrequent trouble, and was a chief cause of his being eventually excluded from higher command in the AIF.

Nevertheless he was an outstandingly strong, capable, and sympathetic leader; and in his directness and simplicity, and in a baffling streak of humility that shot through his seemingly absorbing vanity, there were elements of real greatness.

[81] Although not naturally suited to life in the federal parliament, he made significant contributions, and was outspoken in his efforts to assist returned servicemen, particularly those with whom he had served.

[1] He played an important part in the Victoria Police strike, making a call alongside Lieutenant General Sir John Monash for members of the AIF to come to Melbourne Town Hall and sign up as special constables.

Many men came specifically for Elliott, ready to stand behind him again, although he was forced to leave only a few days into the Strike to attend meetings in Queensland of the Royal Commission on the Navigation Act.

[1] He built a house at 56 Prospect Hill Road, Camberwell, where he lived with his wife, children, sister-in-law Belle, and mother-in-law, Mary Campbell, until she died in 1923.

Following a short service at his home, his casket was drawn, with full military honours including bands and an escort party, on a gun carriage pulled by horses resplendent with black plumes, to the Burwood Cemetery, a march of some four miles.

[89] The parade was led by Rear Admiral William Munro Kerr, with Brigadier Generals Charles Brand, Thomas Blamey and J. C.

[93] A street in Ascot Vale, Victoria, was created in the Whiskey Hill subdivision around 6 km north of Melbourne in around 1930 and named after Elliott.