SCOTT, SIR GEORGE GILBERT (1811-1878), English architect, was born in 1811 at Gawcott near Buckingham, where his father was rector ; his grandfather, Thomas Scott (1747 1821), was a well-known commentator on the Bible. Scott was apprenticed to a London architect, filled various staff posts, and designed his first church in 1838. But his real artistic education dates from his study of Pugin's works on mediaeval architecture. The first result of this new study was his design for the Martyrs' Memorial at Oxford, erected in 1840, a clever adaptation of the late 13th-century crosses in honour of Queen Eleanor.
In 1844 Scott won the first premium in the competition for the new Lutheran church at Hamburg, a noble building with a very lofty spire, designed strictly in the style of the 13th century. In 1847 he was employed to renovate and refit Ely cathedral, the first of a long series of English cathedral and abbey churches which passed through his hands. In 1851 he visited and studied the architecture of the chief towns in northern Italy. In 1856 a competition was held for designs of the new government offices in London ; Scott obtained the third place in this, but the work was afterwards given to him on the condition (insisted on by Lord Palmerston) that he should make a new design, not Gothic, but Classic or Renaissance in style. In 1862-1863 he was em ployed to design and construct the Albert Memorial, a costly and elaborate work, in the style of a magnified 13th-century reliquary or ciborium, adorned with many statues and reliefs in bronze and marble. On the partial completion of this he was knighted. In
1866 he competed for the new London law-courts, but the prize was adjudged to his old pupil, G. E. Street. In 1873, owing to ill ness caused by overwork, Scott spent some time in Rome and other parts of Italy. The mosaic pavement which he designed for Durham cathedral soon afterwards was the result of his study of the 13th-century mosaics in the old basilicas of Rome. He died on March 27, 1878.
An incomplete list of his works from 1847 in the Builder for 1878 (p. 36o) ascribes to Scott 732 buildings with which he was connected as architect, restorer or the author of a report. These include 29 cathedrals, British or colonial, io minsters, 476 churches, 25 schools, 23 parsonages, 58 monumental works, 25 colleges or college chapels, 26 public buildings, 43 mansions and a number of small ecclesiastical accessories. While a member of the Royal Academy, Scott held for many years the post of professor of architecture, and gave a long series of able lectures on mediaeval styles, which were published in 1879. He wrote a work on Domestic Architecture, and a volume of Personal and Professional Recollections, which, edited by his eldest son, was published in 1879.