Ralph Elliott grew up in Berlin during the time of the Weimar Republic. His childhood was happy and uncomplicated but, for his part-Jewish family, the turbulent 1920s and 1930s led to their move to the town of Karlsruhe near the Black Forest. The young Elliott formed a strong identification with the countryside around Karlsruhe. By 1936 however it was clear to Elliott's parents that there was no future for the family in Germany. Elliott completed his schooling in Edinburgh, Scotland and was at the University of St Andrews when war was declared. He spent a year interned as an enemy alien and then joined the Pioneer Corps until he was accepted for officer training in 1943-1944. In early 1945 he was on active service fighting against the land of his birth. He changed his name from Ehrenberg to Elliott after a friend, Gordon Elliott.
After the war Elliott resumed his university studies and graduated in 1949, teaching in the English Department of St Andrews and the University College of North Staffordshire. In 1959 he was invited to take up a position at the University of Adelaide and from there he moved to Flinders University. In 1973, Elliott was appointed Master of University House at the Australian National University (ANU). After his retirement in 1986, Elliott became visiting professor in the department of English and theatre studies at the ANU. He gave radio talks and continued to write and review.
Elliott researched and published widely in the Germanic languages, Middle English and Chaucer, and in the works of Thomas Hardy.
