SCOTT, (SCOT), David (1689-1766), of Scotstarvet, Fife.

Scott stood for Anstruther Burghs in 1722, when there was a double return, on which the seat was awarded by the Commons to his opponent. Returned for his county in 1741, he voted with the Opposition till Walpole’s fall, after which, influenced by his nephew, William Murray, later Lord Mansfield, he went over to the Government. ‘All the rest are with us’, John Drummond wrote of the opposition Members for Scotland, 30 Nov. 1742, ‘particularly Scot, now Murray is solicitor-general’.To Earl of Morton, Morton mss, SRO. Though he voted consistently with the Administration he was classed in 1746 as ‘doubtful’. Despite ‘threats, promises, and great men’s letters’,Oswald to G. Grenville, 1 Aug. 1747, Grenville mss. he was defeated at Fife by James Oswald in 1747. Next year he was put up unsuccessfully by Lord Panmure (William Maule) for Aberdeen Burghs, where he was returned unopposed on his opponent’s death in 1751. In 1753 the Duke of Argyll informed Pelham that, having been asked by the Aberdeen council to recommend a Member, he proposed to reply that in his opinion ‘their present Member has behaved himself very well, with some little touch upon the merit of his relation’, Murray.28 Oct. 1753, Newcastle (Clumber) mss. He held the seat without a contest till his death, 1 Dec. 1766.