Researching Alexander Scott

Scott was the son of Dr Helenus and Augusta Maria Scott. He was born in Bombay, India and was educated at Bath Grammar School and Peterhouse, Cambridge, receiving a BA in 1822 and an MA in 1825. Scott was elected to the new Legislative Assembly, representing Northumberland and Hunter from 1856 to 1859, Northumberland 1858 to 1859 and Lower Hunter from 1860 to 1861. He supported the secret ballot and franchise extension. In 1861 he was nominated to the Legislative Council for life, but he took no part in it and resigned in 1866.A failed entrepreneur, he later became a prominent figure in the commercial establishment of the Newcastle region. He lived at Ash Island on the Hunter River with his wife, formerly Harriet Calcott, a seamstress, and his two daughters Harriet (1830–1907) and Helena Scott (1832–1910), both born in Sydney. At Ash Island the sisters helped their father in his entomological work, collecting, preparing and drying specimens of plants and insects, and also accepted painting, drawing and lithography commissions from Australian naturalists including Gerard Krefft, William Macleay, Thomas Sutcliffe Mort, Edward Pierson Ramsay, William Woolls and Ferdinand von Mueller.

The Scott sisters became established with the publication of Australian Lepidoptera and their transformations, drawn from the life by Harriet and Helena Scott which illustrated insects in the stages of metamorphosis, in the environment in which they lived and fed. This work, published in 1864, was time-consuming and expensive and publication was delayed for 12 years. Although published (in London : John van Voorst) under Alexander Walker Scott it was an entirely collaborative work as its title states.

Alexander Walker Scott was a trustee of the Australian Museum 1862–79 and a Fellow of The Entomological Society of New South Wales, founded in 1862, as were both Helena and Harriet, though in their case it was honorary, a rare distinction. He died in Paddington.

The Scott collection is conserved in the Australian Museum in Sydney.

In 1842 Scott invited French explorer and artist Fredrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leichardt to stay at his house and arrived on 23 September and spent 3–4 days there.__NOTOC__

Scott was married to a woman from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, which is where he made his home for many years. Scott was also an avid collector of ancient artifacts, which he obtained from locations all over the world. In 1914 Scott began corresponding with the director of the University Museum in Philadelphia, USA, George Byron Gordon. This initial correspondence was with regard to his personal collection of artifacts that he thought the museum would be interested in purchasing. Originally, he considered selling his objects to the Fairmount Park Authorities in Philadelphia, but wanted to keep the collection together and believed the University of Pennsylvania's Museum would be the ideal final resting place for his objects. Photographs and descriptions of some of his collection were published in the Museum Journal in June 1914. Scott continued to make annual trips back to India. After some initial correspondence and meetings with Gordon in 1914, Scott requested to be given an official title to help him in acquiring objects during his next trip to India. He was given the title of Honorary Representative of Oriental Archaeologist at the University Museum of Philadelphia.

For the Alexander Scott Expedition to India (1915–1918), Scott was no longer selling his personal collection to the University Museum in Philadelphia, but specifically purchasing objects for the museum. He discussed potential finds with Dr Gordon throughout his travels, and often sent photographs and descriptions before making purchases. Occasionally, Scott took personal financial risks and purchased objects that he believed could not be passed up. This happened on occasions where Dr Gordon did not reply to Scott in a timely manner about whether or not to make the purchase in his letters.

While in India, Scott befriended the Director-General of Archaeology in India, Sir John Marshall. Scott painted for Marshall while staying at his camp in Taxila, where he also witnessed tribal fighting. Scott spent time in Gandhara country, Sanchi, Bhopal and visited the ancient city of Mattra, among other various locations. He visited excavation sites, painted, and searched for valuable objects to purchase for the museum. Many of his purchases came from private hands. On a later trip to Tibet, Scott obtained a number of other objects that the museum subsequently purchased.

Around 1917, Scott’s first wife died. In 1920, at 64 years old, he remarried a Mabel Winifred Bowbeer. Alexander Scott died five years later in 1925, which is when Mrs Scott began corresponding with the museum and continued to do so until 1948.