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
Underwriting (UW) services are provided by some large financial institutions, such as banks, insurance companies and investment houses, whereby they guarantee payment in case of damage or financial loss and accept the financial risk for liabilit ...
at
Lloyd's of London
Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...
, 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.
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
Melton is a village in Suffolk, England, located approximately one mile north east of Woodbridge. The 2001 census recorded a population of 3,718, the population increasing to 3,741 at the 2011 Census. The village is served by Melton railway sta ...
.
[ Scott left £5000 in his will to Evelyn Beatrice Hall, 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 Sound recording and reproduction, 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) ...
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) (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