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Clive Elliott

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British ornithologist and international civil servant

SirClive Christopher Hugh ElliottBt
Sir Clive Christopher Hugh Elliott Photo: M.-T. Elliott
BornClive Christopher Hugh Elliott
(1945-08-12)12 August 1945
Moshi, Tanganyika (Tanzania)
Died18 April 2018(2018-04-18) (aged 72)
South Leigh, Oxfordshire, UK
NationalityBritish
Education
Alma materUniversity College, Oxford
Occupation(s)International civil servant, ornithologist
Known forMigratory pest control, ornithology
Notable workQuelea Quelea Africa’s Bird pest
SpouseMarie-Thérèse Rüttimann
ChildrenIvo Elliott, Nico Elliott
Parent(s)Sir Hugh Francis Ivo Elliott ; Elizabeth Margaret Phillipson

Sir Clive Christopher Hugh Elliott, 4th Baronet (12 August 1945 – 18 April 2018) was a British ornithologist and civil servant.

Biography

Elliott was born in Moshi, Tanganyika Territory on 12 August 1945. He father, Sir Hugh Elliott, was stationed there as a civil servant in the colonial administration. During Clive's childhood, from 1951 to 1953, he accompanied his parents to Tristan da Cunha, where his father was seconded as the first Administrator. The wild-life and abundance of sea birds on the island, together with the presence of the eminent ornithologists Bunty and Berthus Rowan, and of his own ornithologist father, made a deep impression on him in this formative period of his life. Afterwards, he attended the Dragon School, Oxford, returning to his parents in Dar es Salaam, Tanganyika during vacations. His familiarity with Swahili, acquired in Tanganyika before its transition in 1961 to the independent state Tanzania, was to prove invaluable later on in his work in Africa. After the Dragon School he continued his education at Bryanston. Later he went on to University College, Oxford, where he read zoology, specializing in ornithology. On graduating with his BA degree, he pursued his ornithological studies at the FitzPatrick Institute at the University of Cape Town, with research into the Cape Weaver Ploceus capensis. He was awarded the degree of PhD in Zoology in 1973.

In 1975 he joined the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to work in Chad as a research scientist with the mission to investigate the control of the migratory passerine pest, the Red-billed Quelea, Quelea quelea. This species is endemic throughout semi-arid zones of sub-Saharan Africa and inflicts widespread damage to cereal crops. Much of his work was accordingly devoted to field trips over many parts of northern and western Africa.

In 1978, with the outbreak of civil war in Chad, Clive and his wife Marie-Thérèse Rüttiman moved to Arusha, Tanzania, where he was appointed to a new position with the FAO, with the mandate to continue working on Quelea throughout eastern Africa. In 1986 he was appointed Project manager of the Bird Control Unit at the FAO and he and his family moved to Nairobi.

In 1989 he was appointed to the Agricultural Operations Division of the FAO in Rome, and in 1995, promoted to the position of Senior Officer, Migratory Pests Plant Protection Service. Although this post was based in Rome, it involved numerous field trips and overseeing projects intended to control migratory pests such as the locust, armyworm, and Quelea. He authored and co-authored several publications on pest control in Africa, including a study based on satellite sensing data.

In 2006 Clive retired to Oxfordshire, where he continued to undertake ornithological projects for the FAO and remained active as a consultant and a recognized authority on African bird pests. He was President of the Oxford Ornithology Society, and member of the committee of the Tristan da Cunha Association.

Always a keen and competitive tennis player, he was also a member of the Committee of the North Oxford Tennis Club. While he was still working in Chad, he had won the men's singles tennis championship there in 1978. At the outbreak of the civil war, as reigning champion, he brought the trophy for safekeeping back to his home in England. His friends will remember him for the image that he embodied of an open-minded eccentric English gentleman, a lover of Africa, for his disregard for what he considered to be outmoded convention, and for his often mischievous humour. Once, after a couple of days’ absence to undergo a series of minor skin operations, he returned to his FAO office in Rome with an impressive row of stitches on his head, announcing to his appalled staff that he had just undergone major brain surgery.

References

  1. Cooper, John (May 2018). "Obituary: Sir Clive Elliott". FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithology. University of Cape Town. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  2. Pringle, Stephen (September 2018). "Obituary: Elliott, Sir Clive". Bulletin of the African Bird Club. 25 (2): 252–255.
  3. Steyn, Peter (1986). "Bunty Rowan — a Tribute". Ostrich. 57 (2): 124–126. doi:10.1080/00306525.1986.9634136.
  4. Bruggers, Richard L.; Elliott, Clive C. H., eds. (1990). Quelea quelea: Africa's Bird Pest. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198576075.
  5. Pantenius, Christian; Butr, Munir (2017). "A Celebration of 50 Years Service, 1967-2017" (PDF). The FAO Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  6. "Select Committee on Science and Technology Written Evidence". 2003. Retrieved 20 November 2018.
  7. Wallin, David O.; Elliott, Clive C. H.; Shugart, Herman H.; Tucker, Compton J.; Wilhelmi, Friedrich (June 1992). "Satellite remote sensing of breeding habitat for an African weaver-bird". Landscape Ecology. 7 (2): 87–99. doi:10.1007/BF02418940.
  8. Elliott, Clive C. H.; Mtobesya, Boaz N.; Cheke, Robert A. (May 2014). "Alternative approaches to Red-billed Quelea quelea management: mass-capture for food". Ostrich. 85 (1): 31–37. doi:10.2989/00306525.2014.900827.
  9. Elliott, C. (2012). Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa: Celebrating 50 years of service to member countries, 1962-2012. Addis Ababa: DLCO-EA.
  10. "Interview with Let's Talk - Farzanah Adam and Azhar Vadi Salaamedia Nov 25, 2016 - Quelea Birds and food sustainability with Sir Clive Elliott". 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  11. "Oxford Ornothological Society". Retrieved 28 May 2018.
  12. "Tristan da Cunha Association". Retrieved 2 July 2018.
  13. Stephen Pringle, private communication, 5 July 2018

External links

  • Interview with Salaamedia
Baronetage of Great Britain
Preceded byHugh Elliott Baronet
(of Limpsfield)
1989–2018 		Succeeded byIvo Elliott
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