John William Robertson Scott CH (born in Wigton, Cumberland on 20 April 1866, died

Idbury Idbury is a village and civil parish in the Cotswold Hills in Oxfordshire, about southeast of Stow-on-the-Wold in neighbouring Gloucestershire. The parish includes the hamlets of Bould and Foscot. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's popula ...

, Oxfordshire on 21 December 1962) was a British journalist and author, best known for his writings on rural affairs, and a

Companion of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...

.John Cripps, "Scott, John William Robertson (1866–1962)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; accessed 13 Feb 2013

Family

His father was David Young Crozier Scott (1844–1887), a commercial traveller and advocate of temperance, and his mother was Janet Robertson (1843–1905). He was partly educated in

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

schools and his parents attended Quaker and non-conformist worship. When a child, his family moved to Carlisle and then Birmingham, when his father became head of the Independent Order of Good Templars. He married Elspet Keith, a writer and oriental scholar, in 1906. They had no children.

Career

After freelancing for various publications including the ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', he received a staff position on the '' Birmingham Gazette'' but left when he indicated he would not write any articles supporting the Conservative Party or its causes. In 1887 he started work at the Pall Mall Gazette under

W. T. Stead William Thomas Stead (5 July 184915 April 1912) was a British newspaper editor who, as a pioneer of investigative journalism, became a controversial figure of the Victorian era. Stead published a series of hugely influential campaigns whilst ed ...

and later Edward T. Cook, following Cook to the '' Westminster Gazette'' in 1893. In 1899 he moved to the '' Daily Chronicle'' but resigned over his opposition to the Boer War, which his proprietors supported. As a result, he moved to the country, Great Canfield in Essex, and began to write on rural matters for the '' Country Gentleman'', '' World's Work'' and '' The Field''. He produced numerous books and articles, setting out country life for readers in towns and cities. He moved to Japan for a few years after the outbreak of World War I. He returned in 1922 and becoming involved with the

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. In 1923 he moved to

, Oxfordshire, in the

Cotswolds The Cotswolds (, ) is a region in central-southwest England, along a range of rolling hills that rise from the meadows of the upper Thames to an escarpment above the Severn Valley and Evesham Vale. The area is defined by the bedrock of Jur ...

. There he founded the journal ''

The Countryman ''The Western Mail'', or ''Western Mail'', was the name of two weekly newspapers published in Perth, Western Australia. Published 1885–1955 The first ''Western Mail'' was published on 19 December 1885 by Charles Harper and John Winthro ...

'', which he edited until 1947, despite selling it in 1943. He aimed to inform towns people of the realities about rural life, believing knowledge of these topics was fundamental to living a good life. He was also involved in local government and housing policy. He was a magistrate and a county councillor and for many years a committee member of the advisory committee of the

Ministry of Health Ministry of Health may refer to: Note: Italics indicate now-defunct ministries. * Ministry of Health (Argentina) * Ministry of Health (Armenia) * Australia: ** Ministry of Health (New South Wales) * Ministry of Health (The Bahamas) * Ministry of ...

Books

His best-selling book was ''England's Green and Pleasant Land'' (1925) "a scorching condemnation of the agricultural workers' conditions of life" which described problems with rural housing. Despite its harsh portrait, it did much to promote an idea of rural life as idyll in England. There was a second edition in 1931 and a revised and extended edition in 1947.''England's Green and Pleasant Land''. (Penguin Books; 608.) Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1947; p. iv He also wrote ''The Foundations of Japan'' based on his travels to the Orient.

Awards

He was made a Companion of Honour in 1947 and received an honorary MA from Oxford University in 1949.

References

External links

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Article on Idbury.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Robertson Scott, J. W. Scottish journalists Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour 1866 births 1962 deaths Scottish non-fiction writers Rural society in the United Kingdom