Major Bill Elliott

Street: Elliott Crescent
Rank: Major
Full Name: William “Bill” Elliott
Date of Death: 21 March 2007
Unit: Royal Pioneer Corps
Role: Corps Secretary (1978-1989), Treasurer Royal Pioneer Association & Benevolent Fund (1989-2006)
Service: 66 years (1940-2006)
Previous Service: South Staffordshire Regiment, Gordon Highlanders, The Buffs, Rajput Regiment (Indian Army)

About Major Elliott

Major William “Bill” Elliott dedicated 66 extraordinary years to military service, from his enlistment in 1940 at age seventeen (falsifying his age) through to 2006. He served as Corps Secretary of the Royal Pioneer Corps from 1978 to 1989 and later as Treasurer of the Royal Pioneer Association and Benevolent Fund. He passed away on 21 March 2007 after a short illness.

Full Biography

Major Bill Elliott died after a short illness on 21 March 2007. He was the Corps Secretary Royal Pioneer Corps from 1978 until 1989, and Treasurer of the Royal Pioneer Association and Benevolent Fund from 1989 until 2006.

His military career spanned 66 years from his enlistment in 1940 at age seventeen (after falsifying his age) into the South Staffordshire Regiment with whose 1/6th Bn he landed in Normandy on D-Day. He then served with 1st Bn Gordon Highlanders, before being commissioned into The Buffs. At the end of war in Europe, he was posted to India where he joined the Rajput Regiment of the Indian Army and took part in border skirmishes in Waziristan. On his return to the UK and after a short time in civilian life he returned to the Army, joining the RPC. He served with units of the Corps at home, Germany, Aden and Bahrain before retiring in 1977 to take up the appointment of Corps Secretary.

He then began what he has described as the happiest part of his Service life, during which time he travelled extensively, visiting most units of the Corps. As Editor of the Corps Journal The Royal Pioneer twice during his service and again as Corps Secretary, he regarded it as a unique vantage point from which to observe events in the Corps, he had served during thirty-five years as a Pioneer.

He brought to the task of Editor and Corps Secretary an array of talents that were to make him outstanding in his field; he was skilled in matters of finance; he had a deep emotional attachment to matters of regimental and Corps esprit; and he was a knowledgeable and authoritative curator of the Museum and its artefacts. He took an interest in the use of the Museum to promote interest among the families of the thousands of RPC recruits who passed through the Training Centre.

Bill also had a flair for external and public affairs; he created a personal network of highly effective and positive relationships with local authorities, politicians, press, radio and television networks and professional institutions and used these relationships to good effect not just within the Corps but across the Army District network. He was also instrumental in developing working methods across the network of Corps and Regimental Secretaries and Museum Curators at a time when their work was less well valued and understood. He was widely regarded in these specialist communities as a safe and authoritative pair of hands.

He served on the Restoration Committee of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre (The Crusader Round and Soldiers’ Church) at Northampton. He also had an appreciation of fine wine and food and, under his encouragement and stewardship, the culinary achievements of the Chefs of the Central Messes were at an all-time high. Bill Elliott retired again in November 1989 and moved to Herefordshire and Presteigne. He then wrote the History of Royal Pioneers from 1945 - 1993, giving the rights of the publication to the Association, commenced work for SSAFA, and continued his work for the Corps through the Association and Benevolent Fund until these roles were converged with The Royal Logistic Corps. His contribution to serving and ex-service life in the Corps is almost certainly unique and was marked by the presentation to him in February 2007 of a silver commemorative piece. To the end he continued to serve on the Council of the Royal Pioneer Association.

Legacy & Publications

In 1993, Major Elliott authored “Royal Pioneers 1945-1993,” a comprehensive history of the Corps during that period. This work was published by Images, Malvern, and the rights were gifted to the Royal Pioneer Association. The book remains an authoritative account of the Royal Pioneer Corps’ post-war history and is available through the Royal Pioneer Corps Association and specialist military booksellers.

His obituary was shared on the Royal Pioneer Corps Association forum in April 2007, where members expressed their condolences and remembered his significant contributions to the Corps. He was widely regarded as having an almost certainly unique contribution to serving and ex-service life in the Royal Pioneer Corps.

Major Bill Elliott

About Major Elliott

Full Biography

Legacy & Publications

Further Reading & External Links