Sir Robert Heatlie Scott, (20 September 1905 – 26 February 1982) was a British civil servant who became

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

of the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

Career

Educated at Inverness Academy,

Queen's Royal College Queen's Royal College (St Clair, Port of Spain, St.Clair, Trinidad), referred to for short as QRC, or "The College" by alumni, is a secondary school in Trinidad and Tobago. Originally a boarding school and grammar school, the Secularity, secular c ...

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in ...

and

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, Scott was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

before joining the civil service in 1927.Robert Heatlie Scott at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> In 1941, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he sat on the Governor's War Council in

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

. He was taken prisoner by the Japanese after Singapore was captured and beaten and tortured. After the war Scott became Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

and then Minister at the British Embassy in Washington D. C. before returning to Singapore as Commissioner-General in 1955. He went on to be

Commandant of the Imperial Defence College The Commandant of the Royal College of Defence Studies, formerly the Commandant of the Imperial Defence College, is the head of the Royal College of Defence Studies, a British military staff college which instructs senior officers, diplomats, and c ...

in 1960 and then

of the

in 1961. In retirement Scott was Lord Lieutenant of Peeblesshire and then

Lord Lieutenant of Tweeddale This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Tweeddale. The office replaced the Lord Lieutenant of Peeblesshire in 1975. *''Scott had been Lord Lieutenant of Peeblesshire'' *1975–1980; Sir Robert Scott *1980–1994; L ...

. He lived at Lyne Station House in

Peebleshire Peeblesshire (), the County of Peebles or Tweeddale is a historic county of Scotland. Its county town is Peebles, and it borders Midlothian to the north, Selkirkshire to the east, Dumfriesshire to the south, and Lanarkshire to the west. Histo ...

.The Peerage.com
/ref>

Family

In 1933 Scott married Rosamond Aeliz Dewar-Durie; they had a son and a daughter.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Robert 1905 births 1982 deaths Alumni of New College, Oxford Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Alumni of Queen's Royal College, Trinidad British expatriates in Trinidad and Tobago Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for Defence