Gordon Daubeney Gresley Elton was born on 31 December 1888 in Jullundur, India. His father, Alfred George Goodenough Elton, was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Connaught Rangers, and later commanded a Territorial Battalion of the Warwickshire Regiment. His mother, Rhoda, was the daughter of Colonel Gordon Young in the Indian Army. Gordon, known to his friends as ‘Gordie’ or ‘G’, was the couple’s only child. He was educated at Wellington College and Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Royal Irish Fusiliers as Second Lieutenant in November 1909. He served with the Regiment in India and, in April 1914, was appointed Aide-de-Camp to the General Officer Commanding 4th (Quetta) Division. He was still at Quetta when the First World War broke out. Gordon was Pat Armstrong’s closest friend and like a brother to his three sisters, who knew him as ‘G’.
Description: Black and white head and shoulders studio portrait of Captain Gordon Elton in a dress uniform of the Royal Irish Fusiliers. Image by C. Vandyk of London.
Date: 1914
Source: Armstrong Collection
Identifier: P6A/1199 (2)