THE LIFE SKETCH OF
Sir William Scott
(d. 1350)
& of Selected Descendents
(1)
James McMullen Rigg, in Leslie Stephan & Sidney Lee, ed., Dictionary of National Biography
(Oxford, 1885-1901[reprint 1993]), v. 17, pp. 1043-1045
. SCOTT, SIR WILLIAM (d. 1350), judge, and reputed founder of the Kentish family of Scot's
Hall, is said to have been son of John Scott who resided at Brabourne, Kent, apparently as
seneschal of the manor. But the pedigree of the Scot's Hall family has not been traced with
certainty before the fifteenth century. The judge, according to a wholly untrustworthy tradition,
was descended from a younger brother of John de Baliol [q.v.], king of Scotland, and also of
Alexander de Baliol [q.v.], lord of Chilham, Kent. William Scott makes his first appearance as a
pleader in the year-book for 1330 (Michaelmas term). He was made serjeant-at-law in 1334/5,
and on 18 March 1336/7 justice of the common pleas, having been knighted the day before, when
the Black Prince was created Duke of Cornwall. In December 1340, with Chief-justice Sir Robert
Parning [q.v.] and other judges, he sat at Westminster to try their delinquent colleague, Sir
Richard de Willoughby [q.v.] He has been doubtfully identified with William Scott, who was
knight marshal of England, and is said, according to an epitaph recorded by Weever to have been
buried in Brabourne church in 1350. But there was a William Scott who purchased land at
Brabourne between 1352 and 1396, and was assessed to the sixteenth from 1349 to 1372. There
is no proof, as is commonly stated, that the judge was father of Michael Scott, who in 1346/7 was
assessed to the sixteenth in Bircholt.
. Obscurity in the history of the family of Scott of Scot's Hall ceases with the settlement by Peter
de Coumbe in 1402 of the manor of Combe or Coumbe in Brabourne on William Scott (d. 1434),
who was escheator for Kent in 1425, sheriff in 1428, and M. P. in 1430. Before 1409 he married
his first wife, Joan, daughter of Sir John de Orlestone (d. 1397), and by purchase or inheritance he
acquired the manor and church of Orlestone , which had belonged to her family. He presented to
the church in 1426, 1430, and 1433. He is believed to have built on the manor of Hall the
mansion-house afterwards known as Scot's Hall. To him also was probably due the
reconstruction in the Perpendicular style of the chapel of the Holy Trinity to the south of the
chancel in Brabourne church, at the entrance of which he directed that he should be buried. (cf.
WEEVER). He died on 5 feb. 1433/4. His second wife was Isabella, youngest daughter of
Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, of Netherfield, Sussex (ancestor of the earls of Winchilsea); she
survived him, and remarried Sir Gervase Clifton, treasurer of the household to Henry VI, who
resided at Brabourne. By his second wife William Scott had, with other issue, an heir, John, and
William (d. 1491). The latter was lord of the manor of Woolstan, and founder of the family of
Scott of Chigwell, Essex.
. The heir, SIR JOHN SCOTT (d. 1485) of Scot's Hall, a consistent Yorkist, was appointed sheriff
of Kent in 1460, and, on the accession of Edward IV next year, was knighted and made
comptroller of the household. Edward IV, on the attainder in 1461 of Thomas, baron de Roos,
and James Butler, earl of Wiltshire, gave him the castle and manor of Wilderton and Molash in
Kent and the manor of Old Swinford and Snodsbury in Worcestershire, with a life interest in the
castle and manor of Chilham. He was one of the negotiators of the treaty of commerce with
Burgandy, concluded at Brussels on 24 Nov. 1467, and of the marriage treaty [see MARGARET,
DUCHESS OF BURGANDY], and one of the commission for the delimitation of the Pale of
Picardy, appointed on 18 June 1472. He was returned to parliament for Kent in 1467, and was
engaged in the following years on diplomatic negotiations with the Hanse Towns. In 1471 he
succeeded Richard Neville, earl Warwick, whom he was sent to arrest, in France after the battle
of Stamford (May 1470), as lieutenant of Dover Castle, warden of the Cinque ports, and marshal
of Calais, and continued in active diplomatic employment. He died on 17 Oct. 1485, and was
buried in the north wall of the chancel of Brabourne church. His arms are in the north window of
'the martyrdom' at canterbury Cathedral. His account-book (1463-6) was printed in
'Archæologia Cant.' vol. x. By his wife Agnes (d.1487), daughter of William de Beaufitz of the
Grange, Gillingham, Kent, he had, with two daughters, an heir, William. The statement that
Thomas Rotherham [q.v.] was a younger son is without foundation.
. SIR WILLIAM SCOTT (1459-1524) of Brabourne was concerned in the siege of Bodiam Castle
in 1483/4, for which and other delinquencies he received a pardon on the accession of Henry VII.
Rising in favour with that monarch, he was sworn of the privy council, appointed comptroller of
the household, and created C. B. with Prince Arthur on 29 Nov 1489. He was also lieutenant of
Dover Castle, warden of the Cinque ports, and marshal of Calais in 1490/1, sheriff of Kent the
same year, and 1501 and 1516. In 1495 he succeeded to the manor of Brabourne on the death,
without issue, of Joan, widow of Sir John Lewknor (killed at Tewkesbury 1471). The property
came to her from her father Richard, son of John Halsham, and, by a settlement of 1464, was
limited to John Scott and his heirs, failing Joan Lewknor's issue. John Scott's relationship to the
Halshams and Lewknors is not established. In 1519 Sir William attended Henry VIII at the Field
of the Cloth of Gold, and figured among the grandees deputed with Wolsey to receive the
Emperor Charles V on his landing at dover on 28 May 1522. Scot's Hall he rebuilt in a style of
such splendour as to make it long the rival of the greatest of the houses of Kent. He died on 24
Aug. 1524, and was buried in the chancel of Brabourne church. By his wife Sybil (d. 1527) he
left issue. A younger son, Edward (d. 1535), married Alice, daughter of Thomas Fogge, serjeant
porter of Calais, and founded the family of Scott of the Mote, Iden, Sussex.
.
His heir, SIR JOHN SCOTT (1485?-1533), was knighted by the young Prince Charles
(afterwards the Emperor Charles V) for gallantry displayed in the campaign of 1511 in the Low
Countries against the Duke of Guelders [see POYNINGS, SIR EDWARD]. He entered the
retinue of George Neville, lord Abergavenny, constable of Dover Castle, and had charge of the
transport service on the landing of Charles V at Dover on 28 May 1522. He was sheriff of Kent
in 1527, and died 7 Oct 1533. By marriage with Anne, daughter of Reginald Pympe (said to be
descended from John Gower, the poet), his successors acquired the manor of Nettlestead, Kent.
Their issue was, besides several daughters, three sons, William (d. 1536 s.p.), Reginald, and
Richard, who was father of Reginald (d. 1599) [q.v.], author of 'The Discovery of Witchcraft.'
.
Sir John Scott's second son, Sir Reginald Scott (1512-1554), sheriff of Kent in 1541 and surveyor
of works at Sandgate, died on 15 Dec. 1554, and was buried at Brabourne, having married, first,
Emeline, daughter of Sir William Kempe; and, secondly, Mary, daughter of Sir Brian Tuke [q.v.]
He had issue six sons and four daughters.
. Sir Reginald Scott's eldest son by hs first wife, SIR THOMAS SCOTT (1535-1594), was soon
prominent in public affairs in Kent. He was knighted in 1571, and was deputy lieutenant of the
county. In 1575 he succeeded as heir to the manor of Nettlestead. In 1576 he served as high
sheriff, and was knight of the shire in the parliaments of 1571 and 1586. He was a commissioner
to report on the advisability of improving the breed of horses in this country, a subject on which
he is said to have written a book; was commissioner for draining and improving Romney Marsh,
and became superintendent of the improvements of Dover harbour. At the time of the Spanish
Armada he was appointed chief of the Kentish force which assembled at Northbourne Down. He
equipped four thousand men himself within a day of receiving his orders from the privy council.
Renowned for his hospitality and public spirit, he died on 30 Dec 1594, and was buried at
Brabourne. The offer of the parish of Ashford to bury him in the parish church free of expense
was declined. A long biographical elegy, which has been attributed to his cousin Reginald, is
extant (PECK, Collection of Curious Pieces, vol. iii.; SCOTT, Memorials of the Scot Family;
REGINALD SCOT, Discovery, ed. Nicholson, pp. xv-xvii). He married three times. By hs first
wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Baker of Sissinghurst, he had six sons and three daughters;
this lady’s sister married Thomas Sackville, lord Buckhurst [q.v.] In 1583 Scott married,
secondly, Elizabeth, daughter of Ralph Heyman of Somerfield; she died in 1595 without issue.
His third wife was Dorothy, daughter of John Bere of Horsman’s Place, Dartford. Scot was this
lady's fourth husband; he had no issue by her (SCOTT, Memorials of the Family of Scot of Scot's
Hall, 1876, pp. 194-206, with portrait and will.)
.
Sir Thomas Scott's second son, SIR JOHN SCOTT (1570-1616), was knighted in the Low
countries by Lord Willoughby, under whom he served as captain of a band of lancers (1588). He
commanded a ship in the expedition of 1597 to the Azores; in 1601 he was implicated, but not
fatally, in the Essex rising. From 1604 till 1611 he was M. P. for Kent, and in 1614 he sat for
Maidstone. On 9 March 1607 he became a member of the council for Virginia, and on 23 May
1609 a councillor of the Virginia Company of London; to the former he subscribed 75l. He died
on 24 Sept. 1616, and was buried in Brabourne church, Kent. He was twice married: first, to
Elizabeth Stafford, a descendant of the duke of Buckingham (beheaded in 1521); and, secondly,
to Catherine, daughter of Thomas Smith, the customer, and widow of Sir Rowland Hayward.
Dekker in 1609 dedicated his 'Phœnix' to her and her father.
.
The last Scott who occupied Scot’s Hall was Francis Talbot Scott (1745-1787), apparently fifth in
descent from Sir Edward Scott (d. 1644), fifth son of Sir Thomas (1535-1594). On Francis
Talbot Scott's death the estate was sold to Sir John Honywood of Evington. The old mansion
was pulled down in 1808. There are many living representatives of the various branches of the
family. The estates of Orlestone and Nettlestead were alienated in 1700.
. [Scott’s Memorials of the Family of Scott of Scot’s Hall (which is at many points inaccurate);
Weever's Funeral Mon. 1631, p. 269; Douglas's Peerage of Scotland, 'Athol;' Hasted's Kent, ed.
1790, iii. 292; Foss's Lives of the Judges; Dugdale's Chron. Ser. pp. 42, 43; Abbrev. Rot. Orig. ii.
99, 179; Paston Letters, ed. Gairdner; Metcalfe's Book of Knights; Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 134; Lyon's
Dover Castle, ii. 244, 245; Letters and Papers, Henry VIII; Rymer's Fœdera, 1st edit. xi. 590-1,
599, 737-59, 778, xiv. 407-8; The French Chronicle of London (Camden Soc.), p. 87; Rutland
Papers (Camden Soc.), pp. 72, 73; Chronicle of Calais (Camden Soc.), pp. 8, 15; Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles (Camden Soc.), p. 157; Hist. MSS. Comm. 9th Rep. App. p. 138; Brown's
Genesis of United States, esp. pp. 996-7; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1599-1616; and information
from C. R. Beazley, esq. Valuable notes have been supplied by Edmund Ward Oliver, esq.]
(2)
A. Robert Hovenden, The Visitation of Kent taken in the years 1619-21 by John Philipot.
Harlean Society Publications, vol. 42 (1898) [FHL 016063 item 1]
[Image size is 45 KB]
B. William Bruce Bannerman, The Visitations of Kent taken in the years 1530-1 by Thomas Bendte.
Harlean Society Publications, vol. 74 (1923) [FHL 016076 item 2]
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C. William Bruce Bannerman, The Visitations of Kent taken in the year 1594 by Robert Cooke.
Harlean Society Publications, vol. 75 (1923) [FHL 016076 item 3]
[Image size is 15 KB]