Major General John Scott (1725–1775) "of Balcomie and Scotstarvit" in Scotland, was a Scottish politician and senior British Army officer. He was nicknamed Pawky Scott (Pawky being in Scots dialect "sly, shrewd or one who tricks you"). Denmylne Castle - geograph

Life

He was born at Balcomie House near

Crail Crail (); gd, Cathair Aile) is a former royal burgh, parish and community council area (Royal Burgh of Crail and District) in the East Neuk of Fife, Scotland. The locality has an estimated population of 1,630 (2018). Etymology The name ''C ...

in Fife, the son of

David Scott David Randolph Scott (born June 6, 1932) is an American retired test pilot and NASA astronaut who was the seventh person to walk on the Moon. Selected as part of the third group of astronauts in 1963, Scott flew to space three times and ...

Scotstarvit Tower Scotstarvit Tower is a tower house in Fife, Scotland. It is situated south of Cupar, between Tarvit Hill and Walton Hill, south of the River Eden, and west of the A916 road. History The six-storey L-plan tower, still largely intact, was bui ...

and his wife Lucy Gordon. He joined the British Army in 1741 as an ensign in the

12th Regiment of Foot 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1 ...

and rose via different regiments to the rank of Major-general in 1770. He served as Colonel of the 108th regiment of Foot from 1762 to 1763 and as Colonel of the 26th (Cameronian) Regiment of Foot from 1763 to his death. He was the

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 o ...

(MP) for Caithness from 1754 to 1761, for Tain Burghs from 1761 to 1768, and for Fife from 1768 until his death on 7 December 1775. Im 1766 he inherited

on the death of his father. Through a mix of skill and luck he is said to have gained £500,000 through gambling, over and above his other inheritances and military income. This is around £60 million in modern terms. In 1766 he won a huge bet made with Sir Lawrence Dundas in which he won

Dundas House Dundas House is a Neoclassical building in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located at 36 St Andrew Square, in the city's first New Town. The building was completed in 1774 as a private town house for Sir Lawrence Dundas by the architect Sir Will ...

(now the HQ of the Royal Bank of Scotland). Dundas negotiated that he instead built Scott a new house to the north, on the site of Provost

George Drummond George Drummond (1688–1766) was accountant-general of excise in Scotland and a local politician, elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh a number of times between 1725 and 1764. Life Drummond was born at Newton Castle in Blairgowrie, Perthshire ...

's house: and this house was called Bellevue Lodge. This became Scott's Edinburgh home. A successful gambler, he purchased

Denmylne Castle Denmylne CastleCoventry, Martin (1997) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p.144 is a ruined 16th-century tower house, about south east of Newburgh, Fife, Fife, Scotland, and north west of Lindores Loch It may be known alternatively as De ...

in Fife in 1772. Not requiring the castle itself he allowed it to fall into a state of disrepair. He died at Scotstarvit in 1775. Bellevue House was converted to the Edinburgh Excise House after his death. It was demolished in 1842 to facilitate the construction of Scotland Street tunnel underneath.

Gambling

George Devol George Charles Devol Jr. (February 20, 1912 – August 11, 2011) was an American inventor, best known for creating Unimate, the first industrial robot. Devol's invention earned him the title "Grandfather of Robotics". The National Inventor ...

asserted that -

Family

On 5 November 1770, he married Lady Mary Hay, daughter of the

Earl of Errol Earl of Erroll () is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1453 for Sir William Hay. The subsidiary titles held by the Earl of Erroll are ''Lord Hay'' (created 1449) and ''Lord Slains'' (1452), both in the Peerage of Scotland. ...

, then 16 years old; they were divorced in 1771. It is mentioned in one source that she eloped with another man. He married secondly, on 5 June 1773 the Hon Margaret Dundas, daughter of

Robert Dundas, of Arniston, the younger Robert Dundas of Arniston, the younger, FRSE (18 July 1713 – 13 December 1787) was a Scottish judge. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland from 1742 to 1746, as Lord Advocate from 1754 to 1760, and as Member of Parliament for Midlothian ...

. They had three daughters: *

Henrietta Henrietta may refer to: * Henrietta (given name), a feminine given name, derived from the male name Henry Places * Henrietta Island in the Arctic Ocean * Henrietta, Mauritius * Henrietta, Tasmania, a locality in Australia United States * Henrie ...

, born 1774, who married

William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland William Henry Cavendish-Scott-Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland, (24 June 1768 – 27 March 1854), styled Marquess of Titchfield until 1809, was a British politician who served in various positions in the governments of George Canning and Lord Go ...

; *Lucy, born 28 March 1775, who married

Francis Stuart, 10th Earl of Moray Francis Stuart, 10th Earl of Moray KT (2 February 1771 – 12 January 1848) was the son of Francis Stuart, 9th Earl of Moray. Life Moray was the eldest son of Francis Stuart, 9th Earl of Murray, and his wife, Jean Gray, daughter of John Gr ...

; *

Joan Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters * Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine * Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (disambiguation), multip ...

, born 15 March 1776 (three months after her father's death), who married George Canning.

References

External links

thepeerage.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, John 1725 births 1775 deaths British Army generals Cameronians officers Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies British MPs 1754–1761 British MPs 1761–1768 British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780