His time in public life was interrupted by two brief periods during which he was confined as a lunatic.
[1] He was educated at Lincoln School and matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1740.
[1] He was a "freak candidate", according to Brooke, and withdrew on finding he lack serious support; in the end Rose Fuller was unopposed.
The petition was withdrawn but Scrope was aggrieved at Sir William Meredith's failure to promote him, and made a scene from the Commons gallery on 18 November 1761, heckling Cust, the Speaker of the House.
He was confined to a madhouse for about a month, writing an apology to Cust on 31 December.