Police - In March 1916, the EA Police Service Battalion received orders to hand over the Kagera River line to another unit and proceed at once to the Northern Frontier Province in order to deal with the Aulihan section of the Somalis who, about 500 strong, had attacked Serenli ( a small post in Jubaland on the Abyssinian Frontier) on the night of Feb. 2nd and wiped out the small garrison. Lieut. F. Elliot, formerly an Asst Superintendent of the Police who had transferred to the Administration, and 65 ranks of the JACS were killed; the post sacked, looted and destroyed; and the Aulihan took everything, including all arms ammunition and a Maxim gun.

Lillibullero - Elliott, the DC had been killed at Serenli on the Juba, at that time in British territory, and his troops defeated and dispersed. The story is a strange one. He was warned of the attack not only by his own garrison, but by the enemy as well, who obligingly sent in to him a black and white cow: the customary token of an impending attack. He would not credit the possibility, and still less the likelihood of being worsted by the tribesmen. He then took an egg, so the story goes, from a plate on his sideboard, and, in crazy fashion, dropped it on the floor, saying to his sergeant, "So end all Somali plans: they break up and come to nothing." That night he was attacked, the fort of Serenli stormed, and he himself stabbed and, whilst still defending himself, shot dead at close quarters. The few survivors were all at one in adhering to this queer tale. Whatever the truth, there was no doubt that the fall of Serenli, in the year 1916, encouraged the Degodia and the Aulihan tribes to press forward to the South, and that all the British garrisons were thereby endangered. Wajir was abandoned.

Lorian - officer-in-charge of Police when I was at Kismayu, was later stationed at Serenli. He had a great, and misplaced, trust in the Somalis, and neglected to take proper precautions in guarding against possible treachery and attack. He was, in consequence, surprised and murdered by them. ........…..

Somali chiefs - one of the most interesting of these chiefs was Abdurrahman Mursaal, head of the Aulihan Somalis, and a very crafty, intriguing man. It was he who later attacked Serenli and murdered Mr F.E. Elliott. He pretended to be friendly, but secretly bore a grudge, as he had been fined previously by Capt. Salkeld for fomenting trouble between two sections of Somalis who were always fighting each other.

Playne -  Assistant District Superintendent in 1909

CWGC - F. Elliott, Lieutenant, 3rd Bn. Lincolnshire Regiment, who died on Wednesday, 2nd February 1916. Age 35. Son of the Rev. Canon J.R. Elliott, MA, of 1 Greenstone Place, Minster Yard, Lincoln. FRGS District Commissioner of Jubaland. Born at Gainsborough. Mogadishu War Cemetery, Somalia, Grave Ref: 2 12 A

Drumkey 1909 - Police - Assistant District Supdt.

Web - British Perspectives on Aulihan Somali Unrest in the East Africa Protectorate, 1915-18 by George L. Simpson Jr. - On 2 February 1916, the disaster that British officials had feared would one day happen in the NFD occurred in neighbouring Jubaland. There a large party of northern Aulihan led by Hajji Abdurrahman Mursaal surprised and killed the Serenli DC, Lieutenant Francis Elliot, and many of the British garrison. It is important to understand the motives that lay behind the sack of Serenli. The incident actually arose from a dispute between Aulihan and Marehan Somalis not long after the outbreak of the First World War and from which a series of raids and reprisals had followed. Following the deaths of nine Marehan at the hands of northern Aulihan and the looting of hundreds of camels, Lieutenant Elliot had publicly given Abdurrahman Mursaal an ultimatum to surrender the stolen animals to him within three days. Instead, the government-paid Reer Waffatu headman defiantly delivered a gift of black animals that, by Somali custom, constituted an open challenge to the Serenli DC. The undaunted, but injudicious, Elliot apparently was contemptuous of the threat and failed to take precautions. Instead, he continued his incredible practice of locking the garrison's rifles in the guardroom each evening before sunset. Moreover, he allowed a large contingent of Aulihan to camp just 100 yards from the boma. At 7 p.m., while the askaris, or African soldiers, were settling down to evening meals, the Aulihan burst upon the British post. The Somalis set the surprised soldiers' huts on fire and killed many of them as they fled the flames. By one account, Abdurrahman Mursaal himself is said to have shot Elliot beneath the ear with a revolver, and by another, to have donned Elliot's sun helmet after the raid. Dozens of Elliot's men were killed in the attack, while the survivors escaped across the Juba River to the nearby Italian post at Baardheere. The Somalis captured the company's maxim gun along with large quantities of arms and ammunition. For the next 18 months, Abdurrahman Mursaal's northern Aulihan, strengthened by the acquisition of British weapons, held free reign over much of Jubaland and threatened British rule in the NFD as well. ……..

Like other British administrators and contrary to official policy, Elliot found himself thoroughly entangled in local politics. Reading the official records from the period, the historian is struck by the degree to which colonial officers became involved in petty disputes. ………… part of the reason for the Aulihan uprising is evidenced by the fact that, after the sack of Serenli, Abdurrahman Mursaal wrote a letter to King George V complaining of Lieutenant Elliot's partiality to the Marehan. ……….. Elliot, who took pride in his knowledge of the Somali language, did not fully appreciate the subtleties of Somali politics. Moreover he counted too much on his own abilities, and consequently paid the ultimate price for his folly.

Note - It is hard to fathom why he locked the arms away from his men unless he feared them or felt that the askaris might get into trouble with the weapons. It might be noted that another source blamed Elliot's death on a Somali woman who, after talking him into locking away the garrison's rifles, betrayed the British officer to Abdurrahman Mursaal, while Moyse-Bartlett claims that the foolish act was done at the suggestion of Abdurrahman Mursaal himself.

Gazette - 23/2/16 - Obituary - Lieut. Francis Elliott - killed at Serenli 2/2/16 in a night attack by Aulihan section of Ogaden Somalis. Lieut. Elliott was appointed Asst. Superintendent of Police on 15/8/07 and transferred to the Administration on 12/9/14 as an additional DC on account of his intimate knowledge of the Somalis, of whose country and customs he had made a special study. Both for his official capabilities and for his personal qualities his loss will be very greatly felt.

Chandler - An administrative officer in Kenya from roughly 1914-1916, Elliott was the district commissioner at Serenli in Jubaland. A former police official he kept a "sleeping dictionary", a Zubair mistress who instructed him on local language, history, and customs. Because of this nocturnal education, Elliott considered himself the ultimate expert on Somalis and Somalia - apparently he was pretty obnoxious about it. It was with some satisfaction that his successor discovered that Elliott had most of his facts wrong. Apparently the young lady, in an effort to keep him happy, had just been making things up and telling Elliott what he wanted to hear.

In January 1916 Elliott received several warnings that Serenli was about to be attacked by a Somali clan called the Aulihan. The Aulihan had been raiding along the frontier and had killed at least 9 friendly tribesmen in the previous weeks. Elliott dismissed the warnings out of hand, at one point smashing an egg before the eyes of his concerned African companions and proclaiming, "Somali plots break up like that. They will do nothing." He refused even to let his men keep their rifles by their side - except for those held by the few sentries, all rifles were locked up in the arsenal. That very night 500 Aulihan raiders rushed the unprepared outpost, sacking the boma and killing Elliott and those of his men who could not escape into the night. For a few weeks tension and terror (but no fighting) reigned along the Jubaland frontier; then the raiders melted away in front of the inevitable punitive column. The surviving askaris reported that Elliott had been wounded in the head at the first rush, had managed to shoot and kill the first Somali to rush at him, but then was stabbed and hacked to death by the others. The Aulihan claimed that Elliott had shot the first two to enter his house and then turned the gun on himself. His Zubair mistress ran off with the leader of the Aulihan.

Red Book 1912 - F. Elliot - Kismayu

Red Book 1912 - Police Dept. - Assistant Superintendent

Gazette 1/2/1908 - Arrived on 1st Appointment - A.D.S. Police - 27/12/1907

HBEA 1912 - Kismayu. Appointed Asst. District Superintendent of Police, EAP

De Ruvigny's Roll of Honour Buried at Bardera