He was born 15 April 1814 in Islington, the son of Benjamin Whinnell Scott, Chief clerk to the Chamberlain of London, and his wife Susan (nee Saunders).

[1] At the end of 1853, after continuing friction produced by the contest, Scott resigned his appointments under the corporation and a year later became secretary of the new Bank of London, which he had taken part in establishing.

[1] During over thirty years in the post Scott extended the Honorary Freedom of the City of London to many notable figures of the period, with an impressive ceremony held at Guildhall, and culminating in a speech and grand banquet hosted by the Lord Mayor in their honour.

Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (1863); Giuseppe Garibaldi (1864); Ferdinand de Lesseps (1870); Angela Burdett-Coutts (1872); Ulysses S. Grant (1877); Benjamin Disraeli (1878); Rowland Hill (1879); General Sir Frederick Roberts (1880); William Gladstone (1881); The Earl of Shaftesbury (1884); H.R.H.

[3] In 1879 with Alfred Stace Dyer, a prominent Quaker and publisher, he had set up the London Committee for Suppressing the Traffic in British Girls for Purposes of Continental Prostitution, and served as its chairman.

[4] Dyer and Scott were both members of the Gospel Purity Association that in April 1885 achieved a prosecution against a brothel run by a notorious London madam named Mary Jeffries; she was defended by Montagu Williams, persuaded to plead guilty, and the resulting sentence was a fine rather than closure.

Scott was heavily involved with local matters and purchased at his own expense the plot of land to build a Congregational church for the town, inspired by the idea of evening services for the working classes.

He worked for the abolition of church rates, the promotion of ragged schools, state education and the preservation of open spaces, in particular the city corporation's purchase of Epping Forest.

[1] In his spare time Scott lectured to working-class audiences and in December 1851 was the chief promoter of the Working Men's Educational Union, becoming its secretary and assisted by his friend François Baron.

He was a Liberal of the old school, a true descendant of the men of the Commonwealth, whose ideas he shared and whose faith he cherished... For fifty years, and more, his influence in the administration of London has been reasonable and full of intelligence and justice.