Hugh Stowell Scott (9 May 1862 – 19 November 1903) was an English novelist who wrote as Henry Seton Merriman. His best known novel, ''The Sowers'' went through thirty UK editions.
Life
Born in
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...
, he became an
underwriter at
Lloyd's of London, but then took to travel and writing novels, many of which had great popularity. Scott visited India as a tourist in 1877–1878 and set his novel ''Flotsam'' (1896) there. He was an enthusiastic traveller, many of his journeys being made with his friend and fellow author
Stanley J. Weyman
Stanley John Weyman (pronounced aɪ mæn 7 August 1855 – 10 April 1928) was an English writer of historical romance. His most popular works were written in 1890–1895 and set in late 16th and early 17th-century France. While very successful ...
.
Scott married Ethel Frances Hall (1865–1943) on 19 June 1889. They had no children. Scott was unusually modest and retiring in character. He died of appendicitis in 1903, aged 41, at
Melton, Suffolk.
[ Scott left £5000 in his will to ]Evelyn Beatrice Hall
Evelyn Beatrice Hall (28 September 1868 – 13 April 1956),Sources which date Hall's death to 1919, such aFred R. Shapiro's ''The Yale Book of Quotations'' are in error. The confusion may have arisen because Hall published no further written wor ...
, his sister-in-law and a fellow writer, best known for a biographical work, ''The Friends of Voltaire
''The Friends of Voltaire'' is an anecdotal biography of 18th-century French writer Voltaire written by English author Evelyn Beatrice Hall under the pseudonym ''S. G. Tallentyre''. It was published in 1906. In 1907, it was published in Great Brit ...
''. Scott explained the legacy as a "token of my gratitude for her continued assistance and literary advice, without which I should never have been able to have made a living by my pen."
He worked with great care, and his best books held a high place in Victorian fiction. His book ''The Sowers'' was made into a silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
in 1916.
Novels
His first novel, ''Young Mistley'' was published anonymously in 1888. His other novels include ''The Phantom Future'' (his only novel set entirely in England, 1888), ''Suspense'' (1890), ''The Slave of the Lamp'' (1892), ''From One Generation to Another'' (1892), ''With Edged Tools'' (a bestseller in 1894), ''The Sowers'' (generally considered his best, set in Russia, where it was banned
A ban is a formal or informal prohibition of something. Bans are formed for the prohibition of activities within a certain political territory. Some bans in commerce are referred to as embargoes. ''Ban'' is also used as a verb similar in meaning ...
) (1896), ''In Kedar's Tents'' (1897),
Bibliography
References
External links
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*For short accounts of many of the novels see the Preface o
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Hugh Stowell
1903 deaths
1862 births
Writers from Newcastle upon Tyne
People educated at Loretto School, Musselburgh
Deaths from appendicitis
English male novelists
19th-century English novelists
19th-century English male writers