In 1768, at the age of 16, Hugh entered Christ Church, University of Oxford, but left after only two years to complete his military education at Metz.

After that, at the still young age of 18, Hugh Elliot took a commission in the Russian army as an officer, and fought in the campaign against the Turks in the Balkans.

According to family papers, at one point Elliot was forced to swim in the Danube holding on to the tail of a horse ridden by a Cossack.

His brother-in-law, William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland presented the bill which would become the Slave Trade Act 1807 before the House of Lords.

[9] Elliot died at his home in Somerset Street, London on 1 December 1830, shortly after retiring to bed, and was buried, with his brother, at Westminster Abbey[1]