John Scott 1638/9-1695

John SCOTT 1638/9-1695

Biographical Note

Born at Chippenham, Wiltshire, son of Thomas Scott, grazier. After a few years as an apprentice in London he left to matriculate at New Inn Hall, Oxford in 1658 but did not graduate. He was ordained and after some minor ecclesiastical preferments as minister at St Thomas's, Southwark and curate at Holy Trinity Minories, in 1678 he became rector of St Peter le Poer, London and lecturer at a church in Lombard Street. In 1685 he was appointed a canon of St Paul's and also graduated BD and DD at Oxford, and in 1691 he moved from St Peter le Poer to be rector of St Giles in the Fields. He was noted as a preacher and a strong defender of the Church of England; as well as sermons, his publications included devotional works including The Christian life, first issued in 1681, which went through very many editions during the following century.

Books

Scott's will refers to books only so far as all his "goods, chattels, books, household stuff, plate, jewels and ... any other my estate whatsoever" were all left to his wife Elizabeth. His library was sold by auction by Edward Millington in London on 3 May 1695, as part of a larger multi-part sale; the only surviving copy of the Pars posteria including Scott's books, in the British Library, is defective, missing all after p.8, and the size/contents of Scott's collection cannot therefore be further analysed.

Characteristic Markings

None of Scott's books have been identified.

Sources

• Bibliotheca nobilissimae ... Pars posteria ... Una cum bibliotheca ... Jo. Scott, 1695 (ESTC R230578).
• Ginn, Richard J. "Scott, John (1638/9–1695), Church of England clergyman." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.