The Scott family were descended from Sir William de Balliol, a knight known as ‘le Scot’ who had moved to Kent from Berwick-upon-Tweed at the end of the thirteenth century. The MP’s father, who sat for Hythe in the Parliament of April 1384, was lieutenant of Dover castle in Henry IV’s reign. John Scott appears to have married at least twice: first, to a daughter of William de Combe from whom the Scotts gained the manor of Combe in Brabourne; secondly, to Joan, the widow of John Mokkyng of Gravesend, but it is not known which (if either) of these women was William’s mother.
Local deeds demonstrate that William was very active in and around Brabourne, even during his father’s lifetime. In April 1390, for example, he released his interest in a property there to his kinsman, Peter Combe, and in 1402 Combe and his wife Alice settled all their lands in Brabourne, Bircholt, Wye and elsewhere on him to hold during their lifetimes for a rent of 20 marks p.a. By then Scott had married Joan Orlaston, the daughter of a minor Kentish landowner, for it was as man and wife that the couple quitclaimed their interest in property in Lamberhurst (straddling the Kent-Sussex county boundary) to two of his Kentish kinsmen, Thomas and John Kemp, in August 1400.
Of defining importance for Scott’s career was his connexion with the Kemps of Wye near Ashford, since these relatives included his nephew, John Kemp, a cleric who rose to the highest office in Church and state.
It is likely that his connexion with Kemp ensured for Scott a more prominent role in local government than he might otherwise have enjoyed. He was first named to an ad hoc commission in January 1420, when he was among those appointed to raise a loan in Kent for the King’s campaign in Normandy. (While it is not clear that he himself ever saw active service, it is possible that he was the William Scott whose prisoner, Baudet de la Valey, was permitted to return to France to raise his ransom in September 1429. It is, however, likely that it was the subject of this biography who was licensed to export livestock and grain overseas – presumably for the English war effort – in 1428 and 1431, since the MP certainly stood surety for Nicholas Campion, one of the victuallers of the Calais garrison, in April 1429.)
Like those of his counterparts in other counties, Scott’s term as sheriff, lasted until February 1430, well over the usual year: the delay in choosing a successor was probably due to the deliberations in the Council and Parliament over the King’s coronation expedition. In the following May, no doubt assisted by Kemp’s patronage, he secured an allowance of £65 for his costs and expenses while sheriff.
While Scott’s ties with the Kemp family was of greatest significance for his career, he also enjoyed links with other Kentish landowners, among them leading figures from the east of the county like John Martin, j.c.p., William Haute* and Geoffrey Lowther*.
Scott died on 5 Feb. 1434 and writs of clausum diem extremum were issued on the following 21 June, although the records of any subsequent inquisitions post mortem have not survived. In his will, made in January 1428, he had asked to be buried in the parish church at Brabourne. He made bequests to that church for forgotten tithes and the upkeep of its fabric, left other sums to those of Lymne, Smeeth and Eastbridge, and sought the intercessions of the mendicant orders at Canterbury, the Carmelites at Sandwich and the Maison Dieu at Dover. Scott provided handsomely for the marriages of his daughters when they came of age, assigning Margaret £100 and Joan 200 marks. Joan would become the wife of Thomas Yerde of Denton Court, Kent, although Margaret may have remained unmarried. Scott left his household goods to his wife Isabel and four sons to share equally between them. He also bequeathed 20s. in cash to each son and ordered that two of his servants should receive annuities of £10, on condition that they remained in his widow’s service. He chose for his executors Isabel and Thomas Chapman of Woodnesburgh.
On her husband’s death, Isabel came under pressure from Archbishop Kemp to marry his protégé, Gervase Clifton*. At length, she agreed to the match only on condition that she was allowed free rein to purchase lands with the 1,000 marks she had been left in dower, presumably to provide for her children by the late MP.
It is not clear what arrangements were made for the care of Scott’s sons until they came of age, but they almost certainly remained with their mother. During the 1440s and 1450s John Scott and Clifton were frequently associated with each other in public and private affairs and in 1450 they were jointly involved in the royal reaction to Cade’s rebellion. Their amicable relationship continued into the next decade, even though Clifton remained loyal to the Lancastrian Crown but his stepson pledged himself to the Yorkist cause. After 1461 John Scott emerged as one of the leading servants of Edward IV, under whom he and John Fogg† assumed the leadership of political society in Kent. His long attachment to the Yorkist Crown saw him serve as controller of the royal household, lieutenant of Dover castle, marshal of Calais, sheriff and knight of the shire for Kent, and councillor to both Edward IV and Edward, prince of Wales. He appears also to have backed Richard III in the events of 1483-5 and he died on 18 Oct. 1485.