Robert Scott (c1746-1808) was a British politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

between 1774 and 1780. Scott was the son of Robert Scott of Lauder, Berwickshire, and his wife Elizabeth Pringle. Scott's father was one of a group of Scottish wine merchants, settled in Madeira and trading to the West Indies and other colonies in Africa and America, the continental colonies, and the Guinea coast. In about 1738 he left his partners John Scott and

John Pringle John Pringle may refer to: *John Pringle, Lord Haining (c. 1674–1754), Scottish landowner, judge and politician, shire commissioner for Selkirk 1702–07, MP for Selkirkshire 1708–29, Lord of Session *Sir John Pringle, 1st Baronet (1707–1782) ...

in charge in Madeira, and moved to London and became senior partner in the firm of Scott and Pringle of Threadneedle Street. In 1767 he purchased the Crailing estate in Roxburghshire. Robert Scott was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

in 1757 and

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge) is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. It is the fifth-oldest surviving college of the university, having been founded in 1350 by ...

. He entered

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

in 1762 and undertook the

Grand Tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tuto ...

in 1765. He later joined his father in the business. In

1774 Events January–March * January 21 – Mustafa III, List of Ottoman Sultans, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, dies and is succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I. * January 27 ** An angry crowd in Boston, Massachusetts seizes, tars, and f ...

he was returned as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for both Gatton and

Wootton Bassett Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies to the west of the major ...

and chose to sit for Wootton Bassett. He did not stand for parliament again. Scott married Emma Assheton Smith, daughter of Thomas Assheton Smith of Tedworth, Hampshire in 1782. His political views differed from those of his friend

and he sold Crailing in 1786 and left Scotland. He purchased

Danesfield House Danesfield House in Medmenham, near Marlow, Buckinghamshire, England, in the Chiltern Hills is a former country house now used as a hotel and spa. The house stands on a plateau which shelves steeply down to the River Thames to the south. History ...

in Buckinghamshire which he rebuilt in typical Georgian style. He died there 6 February 1808.

References

Sources

Waddesdon. Portrait of Emma Assheton Scott
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Robert 1808 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge British MPs 1774–1780 18th-century Scottish businesspeople Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Wootton Bassett Members of Lincoln's Inn