James Alexander Scott (2 December 1895 – 20 January 1983), was a British member of the Indian Police Force from 1915 to 1947. In 1915 Scott joined the Indian Police Force. He then became attached to the 93rd Burma Infantry and completed three years of service with the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

. Subsequently he was posted to the provinces of

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

and Delhi. In October 1928, he was superintendent of police in Lahore, when the

Simon Commission The Indian Statutory Commission, also known as the Simon Commission, was a group of seven members of the British Parliament under the chairmanship of John Simon. The commission arrived in the Indian subcontinent in 1928 to study constitutional ...

visited. There, he ordered the dispersal of protesters by the charging with batons, resulting in severe injuries to the Indian revolutionary

Lala Lajpat Rai Lala Lajpat Rai (28 January 1865 — 17 November 1928) was an Indian revolutionary, politician, and author, popularly known as ''Punjab Kesari (Lion of Punjab).'' He was one of the three members of the Lal Bal Pal trio. He died of severe tra ...

. Rai's death a fortnight later led to Scott becoming the target of an assassination by members of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army, and the subsequent Lahore Conspiracy Case. Documents related to Scott, including his thoughts penciled in the margins of a copy of Alfred Draper's book titled ''Amritsar: The Massacre that Ended the Raj'' (1981), are kept in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

Early life and career

James Scott was born on 2 December 1895, at

Currie Currie is a village and suburb on the outskirts of Edinburgh, Scotland, situated south west of the city centre. Formerly within the County of Midlothian, it now falls within the jurisdiction of the City of Edinburgh Council. It is situated be ...

Midlothian Midlothian (; ) is registration county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh council ar ...

, Scotland. He attended

George Heriot's School George Heriot's School is a private primary and secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Lauriston area of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has more than 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff, and 80 non-teaching staff. It was ...

in Edinburgh. In 1915 he joined the Indian Police Force. He became attached to the 93rd Burma Infantry and completed three years of service with the

, and in 1918 was

mentioned in Despatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face of t ...

. Subsequently he was posted to the provinces of

and Delhi.

Simon Commission and Lahore Conspiracy Case

On 30 October 1928, when the

arrived at Lahore, Scott was the superintendent of police in Lahore, where he ordered the dispersal of a peaceful protest by the charging with batons. One result was severe injuries to the Indian revolutionary

. As a result of Rai's death just over two weeks later, Scott became the target of an assassination, attempted on 17 December 1928. That day, Scott's assistant J. P. Saunders, was mistaken for Scott, and fatally shot by Shivaram Rajguru and

Bhagat Singh Bhagat Singh (27 September 1907 – 23 March 1931) was an Indian anti-colonial revolutionary who participated in the mistaken murder of a junior British police officer in December 1928 in what was intended to be retaliation for the deat ...

of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army. Prior to the shooting, pink posters had already been prepared quoting "Scott is dead". The subsequent Lahore Conspiracy Case led to the conversion of Hans Raj Vohra and others as approvers, and the hanging of Singh, Rajguru, and Sukhdev Thapar.

Awards and honours

Scott's awards and honours include the CIE,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, the Indian Police Medal, and the King's Police Medal.

Personal and family

Scott was married to Elizabeth Smith, and they had two sons, Alastair and Malcolm. He died on 20 January 1983, at the age of 88 years, and was buried at Colinton Kirk Churchyard. Two years before his death, Scott's son Alastair gifted Scott Alfred Draper's book titled ''Amritsar: The Massacre that Ended the Raj'' (1981). Part of the collection of documents on Scott held at the

, it reveals Scott's handwritten thoughts in the margins and parts he highlighted and underlined, including his agreement with those that believed that

Reginald Dyer Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer, (9 October 186423 July 1927) was a British military officer in the Bengal Army and later the newly constituted British Indian Army. His military career began in the regular British Army, but he soon transf ...

's action at Jallianwalla Bagh resulted in peace in the Punjab.

References

{{reflist 1895 births 1983 deaths People from Edinburgh People from Midlothian Officers of the Order of the British Empire