scended 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 his 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 his 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.]
SCOTT or SCOT, Sir WILLIAM, Lord Balwearie (d. 1532), Scottish judge, was elder son of Sir William Scott of Balwearie, by Isobel, daughter of Sir John Moncrieff of Moncrieff. He accompanied James IV in his expedition into England in 1513, and, being taken prisoner at the battle of Flodden, was obliged to sell a portion of his lands of Strathmiglo to purchase his ransom. In February 1524 he was chosen a commissioner to parliament, when he was appointed one
