Kenneth Allan Caldwell Elliott was born in Kimberly, South Africa, on August 24th, 1903. He attended Christian Brothers' College, Kimberley (1909-1916), and St. Andrews College, Grahamstown (1917-1920). He attended Rhodes University College, South Africa (1921-1924), where he obtained a B.Sc. (1923) and M.Sc. (1924). From 1926 to 1933, Elliott studied at Selwyn College, Cambridge University, where he received a Ph.D. in 1930 and later a Sc.D. in 1950.

From 1926 to 1933, Dr. Elliott did research in chemistry and biochemistry. In 1933, Dr. Elliott began his association with the University of Pennsylvania where he was engaged as a biochemist until 1939. The next five years were spent working on brain research at the Psychiatric Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital.

Dr. Elliott's employment at the Montreal Institute Neurological as a neurochemist began in 1944 and continued until 1965. He was also a professor (1958-1971) and chairman of the Biochemistry Department, at McGill University (1958-1968). In 1973, Dr. Elliott became Emeritus Professor of McGill University. Dr. Elliott died in Montreal on April 28, 1986.