James Scott - papers, 1850-1951, together with Scott family genealogical research, compiled 1981-2005

MLMSS 7781/Box 1X

fonds

1850 - 2005

Textual Records, Graphic Materials, Clippings, Photographs

457617

0.4 metres of textual material (1 outsize box) includes photographs
Albums
Clippings

James Scott, M.A. was born in Glasgow, Scotland on 29 April 1862. Scott was the Head Teacher of a number of Queensland schools, including Cunnamulla, Mackay North and Croydon, between 1886 and ca. 1891. The Scott family moved to Sydney during the 1890s, where Scott taught and qualified as a barrister in New South Wales. In 1898 he became the Provisional Secretary of The Australian Union, an organisation formed in Sydney to maintain and develop the idea of Australian nationality, to encourage and develop high ideals of national life and character and to stimulate Australian Literature, Art and Science. Edmund Barton was the Provisional President. Scott was general secretary of the Sydney Theosophical Society in 1899. He became Principal of Bahauddin College, Junagadh, India in 1902 and ca.1919 retired to England where he was appointed national lecturer for the Philosophical Society in England and Wales. He was active also in discussions for the foundation of a world university. Scott was twice married - first to Elizabeth Lydia Gwendoline Winifred Jamieson on 5 June 1884 (they subsequently divorced), and on 29 December 1902 to Edith Mary Duff at Banares (now Varanasi), India. Scott died in London in 1930. One of Scott's daughters, Ivy Buccleuch Scott (1885-1947), played leading soubrette roles for the J C Williamson Royal Comic Opera Company before moving to the USA in 1910 where she pursued a career as a singer, actress and broadcaster. (Source: MLMSS 7781).

1888-1889; 'Common Place Book (Original) James Scott No. 1'. Includes poems (possibly written by James Scott?), some with corrections, and newscuttings.
1873-1884; Folder, including university notes, with inserts; Harrow School Entrance Scholarship Examination Papers 1873; questions completed by James Scott; University of Glasgow Examination Papers (undergraduate and M.A.).
1887-1898; Folder, including: letter from James Scott to a Student dated 2 April 1897 on Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts, Sydney letterhead; University of Sydney Examination papers 1887-1898; handwritten questions; newscuttings on various subjects, mainly from Sydney newspapers.
Folder: 'Dad's career', including Menu for Banquest to celebrate the Federal Convention, Sydney Town Hall, 7 September 1897; letter 29 April, 1898, Edmund Barton to James Scott; printed form letter dated 6 May, 1898 from James Scott as Provisional Secretary, soliciting cooperation in forming a branch of the newly established The Australian Union; printed form letter dated 6 May, 1898 to editors, sending copy of Interim Constitution of The Australian Union, and seeking cooperation in establishing local branches; Constitution of The Australian Union, adopted 2 May, 1898; envelope bearing the following annotation; 'This is the real beginning of the Commonwealth of Australia. James Scott planned this and inspired Toby Barton to lend himself to this movement so that it would have a chance of success'; photograph: 'Dad, Mother & Ian with College Staff (Junagadh)'; The Bahauddin College Magazine vol. vi No. 2, January 1920 (includes an article on Scott); Bahauddin College Junagadh Golden Jubilee Celebrations Souvenir, December 1951 (includes an article on James Scott).;
1981-2005; Scott Family genealogical research.
ca.1850-ca.1945; Loose photographs of Scott family members, and two albums of photographs, many taken in India.