J. W. Robertson Scott
John William Robertson Scott
Family
His father was David Young Crozier Scott (1844–1887), a commercial traveller and advocate of
When a child, his family moved to Carlisle and then Birmingham, when his father became head of the
He married Elspet Keith, a writer and oriental scholar, in 1906. They had no children.[1]
Career
After freelancing for various publications including the
In 1887 he started work at the Pall Mall Gazette under
As a result, he moved to the country,
He moved to Japan for a few years after the outbreak of World War I. He returned in 1922 and becoming involved with the
In 1923 he moved to Idbury, Oxfordshire, in the Cotswolds. There he founded the journal The Countryman, which he edited until 1947, despite selling it in 1943. He aimed to inform towns people of the realities about rural life, believing knowledge of these topics was fundamental to living a good life.[2] He was also involved in local government and housing policy.[1] He was a magistrate and a county councillor and for many years a committee member of the advisory committee of the Ministry of Health.[3]
Books
His best-selling book was England's Green and Pleasant Land (1925)[1] "a scorching condemnation of the agricultural workers' conditions of life"[4] which described problems with rural housing.[5] Despite its harsh portrait, it did much to promote an idea of rural life as idyll in England.[4] There was a second edition in 1931 and a revised and extended edition in 1947.[6]
He also wrote The Foundations of Japan based on his travels to the Orient.
Awards
He was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1947 and received an honorary MA from
References
- ^ a b c d e John Cripps, "Scott, John William Robertson (1866–1962)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; accessed 13 Feb 2013
- ^ "MR J. W. ROBERTSON SCOTT (Obituary)". The Guardian. 24 December 1962. p. 2.
- ^ England's Green and Pleasant Land. (Penguin Books; 608.) Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1947; "the author"--back cover
- ^ ISBN 9780521777360.
- ^ Judy Giles, Tim Middleton (1995). Writing Englishness, 1900-1950: An Introductory Sourcebook on National Identity. Routledge. p. 91.
- ^ England's Green and Pleasant Land. (Penguin Books; 608.) Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1947; p. iv
External links
- Works by J. W. Robertson Scott at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about J. W. Robertson Scott at Internet Archive
- Article on Idbury.com
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