Frederick Clifford "Pompey" Elliott (7 April 1879 – 3 August 1960) was an Australian rules footballer in the Victorian Football League (VFL).

Fred was the first VFL player to reach 200 games and was elected to the Carlton Hall of Fame in 1988.^[1]

Fred was born in Carlton with the name Frederick Clifford Saggers to William Constantine Saggers (1824–1880) and Florence Mary Woodliffe Willcox (1857–1929), who had married in 1876.

He was only a few months old when his 56-year-old father died. Fred's mother was only 23 years old at the time and quickly re-married. The new husband's name was Frederick Giddons Anson Elliott (1859–1920). Baby Fred was given his stepfather's surname.^[2]

He married Florence May Windsor (1879–1959) at St Thomas's Essendon on 26 September 1906. The newly married couple went to live at 1 Pascoe Vale Road, Moonee Ponds. This was the City of Essendon's Town Hall and Library with an attached residence. Fred and Florence were able to reside there because Florence's mother, Sarah Windsor, was the librarian. Florence and Frederick went on to have four daughters, and all were born at 1 Pascoe Vale Road.

It is possible that Fred's football nickname of "Pompey", which was applied at least as early as 1905,^[17] came from the Roman general and statesman Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106BC–48BC). In English, the general was called Pompey the Great, as he was a superior leader of men.

In March 1916, Elliot, at age 37, reluctantly enlisted in the army. He was a pacifist and a conscientious objector. Some other Carlton players had enlisted, and Fred had received white feathers in the mail, designating cowardice. He joined the 3rd Pioneer Battalion in Campbellfield.

By May of that year, and in the midst of pre-war training at the camp, Fred sought to end it all. Overcome by depression and, in an act of extreme anxiety, he attempted suicide, by cutting his throat. A report tabled by Sgt. Trewhella detailed "intermittent neurotic instability" in a man who was "acutely depressed, suicidal, and with delusions of persecution and hallucination of hearing, with acute melancholia". By August, Fred was discharged from the Army, having been declared permanently unfit to serve his country.^[21]

He was relocated to the Receiving House at Royal Park, during which time the football club quietly intervened to meet his family's mortgage repayments at 17 Homer Street, Moonee Ponds.^[1]

Fred was known as a gentleman by his family and had been a popular local figure in the Moonee Ponds area. His health improved with time but never fully recovered. Gardening, going to watch the football, time with his family and attending local cinemas at least three times a week were pastimes during retirement.