SCOTT, Edmund, of the Middle Temple, London.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603, ed. P.W. Hasler, 1981
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

Family and Education

2nd s. of John Scott of Bromley, Kent. educ. Staple Inn; M. Temple 1595.

Offices Held

Biography

If the above identity is correct, Scott was presumably returned for the Rogers’ family borough of Wareham through the patronage of John Rogers I, who apparently practised as a Middle Temple lawyer before succeeding to his estates in 1605. Alternatively, Scott may have been one of Robert Cecil’s nominees through the influence of Thomas Howard, 3rd Viscount Howard of Bindon, though no connexion with Cecil has come to light. Little is known about Scott’s life, apart from routine references to him in the Middle Temple records, and a case brought in 1600 in the court of requests by his elder brother John Scott of Lincoln’s Inn, who complained that an experienced gambler, Thomas Rich of Lincoln’s Inn, had drawn Edmund into playing the game called primero, ‘wherein he had small skill and less judgment and contrariwise he the said Rich very skilful at it, as also at the dice and other games’. When playing for small sums Rich allowed Edmund and others to win, but when they were playing for ‘any round or great sum’, Rich usually won; in this way Edmund had lost the allowance provided by his father. In June 1597 Edmund borrowed £25 from Samuel Thornhill, entering into a bond of £50 for repayment. Rich, however, had kept £20 of the borrowed money in his own hands until John Scott had entered into a bond for £100 to save Rich harmless from the transaction, and by the time John appealed to the court of requests Rich was threatening to have him imprisoned for non-payment. Whether this had any bearing on Scott’s wishing to sit in Parliament in 1601 is unknown.

M. T. Adm. 359; M. T. Recs. i. 359, 375; ii. 509; Req. 2/268/14.

Ref Volumes: 1558-1603

Author: A. M. Mimardière

Notes