# Clement Scott

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Clement_Scott
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Clement_Scott.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Scott
> Source revision: 1355277114
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|English theatre critic and writer}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}}

[[File:Clement Scott.png|250px|thumb|right|A [Woodburytype](/source/Woodburytype) portrait of Scott, from ''[The Theatre](/source/The_Theatre_(magazine))'', {{circa|1880}}]]
'''Clement William Scott''' (6 October 1841 – 25 June 1904<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Gänzl |first=Kurt |title=Scott, Clement [William] |encyclopedia= The Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre |year= 2001 |publisher= Schirmer Books |location= New York City |volume= 3 |page= 1818 |edition= 2 |url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmu00ganz/page/1818/mode/2up |isbn= 0-02-864970-2}}</ref>) was an influential English theatre critic for ''[The Daily Telegraph](/source/The_Daily_Telegraph)'' and other journals, and a playwright, lyricist, translator and travel writer, in the final decades of the 19th century. His style of criticism, acerbic, flowery and (perhaps most importantly) carried out on the first night of productions, set the standard for theatre reviewers through to today.

Scott accumulated enemies among theatre managers, actors and playwrights over the years, picking quarrels with [William Archer](/source/William_Archer_(critic)), [Ibsen](/source/Henrik_Ibsen), [George Bernard Shaw](/source/George_Bernard_Shaw) and others. After he gave a particularly ill-considered 1898 interview, in which he attacked the morals of theatre people, especially actresses, he was forced to retire as a theatre critic, and his reputation and prospects suffered badly until, by the end of his life, he was impoverished.

==Life and career==
Born the son of [William Scott](/source/William_Scott_(Vicar_of_St_Olave's%2C_Jewry)), the [perpetual curate](/source/perpetual_curate) of [Hoxton](/source/Hoxton) in [Tower Division](/source/Tower_Division), [Middlesex](/source/Middlesex), Scott converted to [Roman Catholicism](/source/Roman_Catholicism) before his 21st birthday. Educated at [Marlborough College](/source/Marlborough_College), he became a civil servant, working in the [War Office](/source/War_Office) beginning in 1860.<ref name=Burner>Burner, Alma J. [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/index.cfm?PAGE=3493 "A Chapter of the London Stage: The Clement Scott Papers"], Vol. XXVII, Winter 1973–1974, No. 2, University of Rochester Library Bulletin, University of Rochester, accessed 1 May 2014</ref><ref name=DNB>{{Cite ODNB |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/35982 |last=Emeljanow |first=Victor |title=Scott, Clement William (1841–1904)|date=23 September 2004}}</ref>

===Early career===
Encouraged to write by the humourist [Tom Hood](/source/Tom_Hood) the younger, who also was a clerk in the War Office, Scott contributed to ''[The Era](/source/The_Era_(newspaper))'', ''Weekly Dispatch'', and to Hood's own paper, ''[Fun](/source/Fun_(magazine))'', where Scott and [W. S. Gilbert](/source/W._S._Gilbert) were colleagues. Scott's interest in writing and the theatre led him to brief dalliance with the failed ''Victoria Review''.<ref name=Burner/>

He became the dramatic writer for ''[The Sunday Times](/source/The_Sunday_Times_(UK))'' in 1863 but held the position for only two years because of the intemperance of his published opinions and his unpopular praise of the French theatre. In 1871, Scott began his nearly thirty years as a theatre critic with ''The Daily Telegraph''. He also contributed regularly to ''[The Theatre](/source/The_Theatre_(magazine))'', a magazine that he edited from 1880 to 1889, and wrote sentimental poetry and song lyrics (including "[Oh Promise Me](/source/Oh_Promise_Me)"), which were often published in the magazine ''[Punch](/source/Punch_(magazine))'' by his friend, the editor, [F. C. Burnand](/source/F._C._Burnand). Scott continued to work at the War Office until 1879, when he finally decided to earn his living entirely by writing.<ref name=Burner/><ref name=DNB/>

As well as criticism, Scott wrote plays, including ''The Vicarage'', ''The Cape Mail'', ''Anne Mié'', ''Odette'', and ''The Great Divorce Case''. He wrote several English adaptations of [Victorien Sardou](/source/Victorien_Sardou)'s plays, some of which were written in collaboration with [B. C. Stephenson](/source/B._C._Stephenson), such as ''Nos intimes'' (as ''Peril'') and ''Dora'' (1878, as ''[Diplomacy](/source/Diplomacy_(play))''). The latter was described by the theatrical paper ''[The Era](/source/The_Era_(newspaper))'' as "the great dramatic hit of the season".<ref>''The Era'', 23 June 1878, p. 12</ref> It also played with success at [Wallack's Theatre](/source/Wallack's_Theatre) in New York.<ref>"Theatrical Gossip", ''The Era'', 7 April 1878, p. 6</ref> Scott and Stephenson also wrote an English version of [Halévy](/source/Ludovic_Hal%C3%A9vy) and [Meilhac](/source/Henri_Meilhac)'s libretto for [Lecocq](/source/Charles_Lecocq)'s operetta ''Le Petit Duc'' (1878). Their adaptation so pleased the composer that he volunteered to write some new music for the English production.<ref>"Theatrical Gossip", ''The Era'', 28 April 1878, p. 7</ref> For all these, Scott adopted the pen name "Saville Rowe" (after [Savile Row](/source/Savile_Row)) to match Stephenson's pseudonym, "Bolton Rowe", another Mayfair street.<ref>"Theatrical Gossip", ''The Era'', 24 September 1876, p. 4</ref> The pieces with Stephenson were produced by the [Bancrofts](/source/Squire_Bancroft), the producers of [T. W. Robertson](/source/Thomas_William_Robertson)'s plays, which Scott admired. He also wrote accounts of holiday tours around the [British Isles](/source/British_Isles) and abroad, becoming known for his florid style. Scott's travels also inspired his creative writing. Some sources say that after a tour of New Zealand, he wrote the tune to the "Swiss Cradle Song", later adapted as "[Now Is the Hour](/source/Now_Is_the_Hour_(song))"<ref>Scowcroft, Philip L. [http://www.musicweb-international.com/garlands/206.htm "A 206th Garland of British Composers], June 2001, MusicWeb International, accessed 1 May 2014</ref> and as "Haere Ra", the [Māori](/source/M%C4%81ori_people) farewell song, which white New Zealanders "mistakenly thought [to be] an old Maori folksong".<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20110201145619/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,779550,00.html "Music: Now Is the Hour"], ''[Time](/source/Time_(magazine))'', 19 January 1948</ref> It is also used for the hymn "Search Me, O God", with lyrics by [J. Edwin Orr](/source/J._Edwin_Orr).<ref>[http://hymntime.com/tch/htm/s/e/searchme.htm "Search Me, O God"] at the ''Cyber Hymnal''.</ref> However, an Australian family has long claimed that the "Clement Scott" who wrote the tune is a pseudonym for a family member.<ref>Smyth, Terry. [http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/3154101/Unsung-hero "Unsung hero"], ''[The Sunday Star-Times](/source/The_Sunday_Star-Times)'', 13 December 2009</ref>

===''Poppyland'' and later years===
In 1883, ''The Daily Telegraph'' printed an article which Scott had written about a visit to the north [Norfolk](/source/Norfolk) coast. He became enamoured of the district and gave it the name ''[Poppyland](/source/Poppyland)''. His writing was responsible for members of the London theatre set visiting and investing in homes in the area. Ironically, he was unhappy at the result of his popularisation of this previously pristine area.<ref>[http://norfolkcoast.co.uk/pasttimes/pt_louiejermy.htm "Norfolk History and Past Times – Louie Jeremy"], Norfolkcoast.co.uk, 2005, accessed 21 September 2009</ref><ref>[http://norfolkcoast.co.uk/pasttimes/pt_gardenofsleep.htm "Norfolk History and Past Times – Garden of Sleep"], Norfolkcoast.co.uk, 2005, accessed 21 September 2009</ref>

[[File:Clement Scott.JPG|thumb|right|Clement Scott memorial at [Cromer](/source/Cromer), Norfolk]]
Scott married Isabel Busson du Maurier, the sister of [George du Maurier](/source/George_du_Maurier), and the couple had four children. She died in 1890, and he remarried Constance Margaret Brandon, an English journalist and actress, in San Francisco.<ref name=DNB/><ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CQxIAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA388 |title=The Theatrical Bazaar |journal=[The Sketch](/source/The_Sketch) |volume=XIV |number=179 |page=388 |date=1 July 1896 |access-date=17 September 2023 |via=Google Books}}</ref> Scott's long-time wish to be elected a member of the famous literary gentlemen's club, the [Garrick Club](/source/Garrick_Club) (to which [Henry Irving](/source/Henry_Irving), Gilbert and [Arthur Sullivan](/source/Arthur_Sullivan), among many other notable men belonged), was finally realised in 1892. After an ill-considered 1898 interview in ''Great Thoughts'', Scott was forced to retire as a theatre critic and moved to [Biarritz](/source/Biarritz) to write ''The Drama of Yesterday and Today''. He then worked for a couple of years at the end of the century for the ''[New York Herald](/source/New_York_Herald)'', later returning to London. In 1900, he founded ''The Free Lance, a Popular Society and Critical Journal'', for writers who worked by the job, which he edited.<ref name=DNB/>

Scott fell into illness and poverty in his last years and died at his residence in [Woburn Square](/source/Woburn_Square) at the age of 62.<ref name=DNB/><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-new-york-times-death-of-clement-scot/131934256/ |title=Death of Clement Scott |newspaper=[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times) |place=London |page=7 |date=25 June 1904 |publication-date=16 June 1904 |access-date=17 September 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003285/19040625/045/0003 |title=A Dramatic End |newspaper=[London Evening News](/source/London_Evening_News) |page=3 |date=25 June 1904 |access-date=17 September 2023 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription}}</ref> Scott was buried in the crypt at the chapel attached to Nazareth House, [Southend-on-Sea](/source/Southend-on-Sea), a convent run by the [Sisters of Nazareth](/source/Sisters_of_Nazareth).<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/southendonseadis00burriala/page/9/mode/1up?q=London+road |title=Southend-on-Sea and district: historical notes |author=Burrows, John William |date=1909 |publisher=John H. Burrows and Sons |page=9}}</ref>

==Style, controversies and influence==
thumb|upright|left|Scott playing ''The Daily Telegraph'' violin (1897)
Scott's position on ''The Daily Telegraph'' and the support of its proprietor, J. M. Levy, allowed him to pioneer the essay-style review of drama, which came to replace the earlier bare notices. His column of notes and reviews became very popular throughout Britain, and later his own magazine, ''The Theatre'', achieved wide circulation. He wrote his theatre reviews immediately after he saw the opening night of a piece which, together with his short temper and his dislike of critic [William Archer](/source/William_Archer_(critic)), the chief English supporter of [Ibsen](/source/Henrik_Ibsen), tended to involve him often in controversies.<ref name=Burner/>

Scott played an important part in encouraging a more attentive attitude by theatre audiences. In his early days, it was not uncommon for audiences to be very boisterous and noisy, frequently booing and talking during productions, especially through the overture. He also insisted on first night reviews. It had been common for reviewers to wait a few days before writing about a production. Scott insisted that the paying audience on the first night should expect to see a fully fledged production, and not one where the leading characters did not know all their lines. Theatre managers disliked the opening night reviews when they felt that a new piece had not had time to settle down yet.<ref name=Gillan1>Gillan, Don. [http://www.stagebeauty.net/th-frames.html?http&&&www.stagebeauty.net/th-critic.html "The Fall of Clement Scott"], StageBeauty.net, 2007, accessed 13 June 2014</ref> On the other hand, Scott supported actor-managers of his time by providing them with translations of popular French plays and with his own plays.

thumb|upright|Scott in the ''Entr'acte'' in 1898, when he accused Ibsen and Shaw of being harmful to society
Early in his career, he wrote approvingly of the "cup and saucer" realism movement, led by [T. W. Robertson](/source/Thomas_William_Robertson), whose plays were notable for treating contemporary British subjects in realistic settings. Later, he favoured the grand and spectacular type of London theatrical production which had developed with new types of theatre building, electric lighting and technologies allowed more and more adventurous staging. As time went on, he became strongly conservative and opposed to the new drama of Ibsen and [Shaw](/source/George_Bernard_Shaw), arguing that domestic intrigue, sexual situations and wordy philosophising were inappropriate for an evening at the theatre, and even harmful to society, especially young women. Scott especially became embroiled in legal claims through his outspoken criticism of various actors and actresses. His scathing attacks on Ibsen and Shaw became evident in their lack of journalistic neutrality.<ref name=Gillan1/>

Scott outraged the theatre community with an extraordinary attack on the morals of theatre people in general, and especially of actresses, in an interview that was published in the evangelical weekly ''Great Thoughts'' in 1898. He said that the theatre warps people's character and that it was impossible for a pure woman to be successful in a stage career, and that all leading actresses were immoral and could have achieved their success only by virtue of the extent of their "compliance". Even before the publication, the transcript of the interview was released to the press, and Scott immediately received a firestorm of condemnation. Although he apologised and recanted his remarks, he was barred from theatres, and ''The Daily Telegraph'' was forced to dismiss him. He soon retired and found his reputation and prospects much diminished. By the end of his life, however, he received a measure of forgiveness, and shortly before his death the theatre community held a generous benefit for him.<ref name=Gillan1/>

His papers are located in the library of the [University of Rochester](/source/University_of_Rochester).<ref name=Burner/> Filmmaker [John Madden](/source/John_Madden_(director)) made his first film, for [BBC Two](/source/BBC_Two) television, ''[Poppyland](/source/Screen_Two)'' (1985), around the story of Scott's 1883 visit to Poppyland.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20201023151235/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/b7e53c66c0324e1487ddab3d5d5092d3 "Screen Two: ''Poppyland''"], BBC Radio Times 1923–2009, 13 January 1985</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
*''Poppyland – Strands of Norfolk History'', Stibbons and Cleveland, Poppyland Publishing, Fourth ed. 2001. {{ISBN|0-946148-56-2}}
*''Poppyland in Pictures'', Elizabeth Jones, Poppyland Publishing, Second ed. 2004. {{ISBN|0-946148-66-X}}
*''The Drama of Yesterday and Today'', Clement Scott, London: Macmillan, 1899. (two volumes)
*''[Ellen Terry](/source/Ellen_Terry)'', Clement Scott, New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1900.
*''From The Bells to King Arthur'', Clement Scott, London: John Macqueen, 1896.
*''Poppy-land; papers descriptive of scenery on the East Coast'', Clement Scott, Carson & Comerford, 1886.
*''Some Notable Hamlets of the Present Time'', Clement Scott, Illus: [Will G. Mein](/source/Will_G._Mein), London: Greening & Co., 1900.
*''Old Days in Bohemian London: Recollections of Clement Scott'', Mrs. Clement Scott (ed.), London: Hutchinson, 1919.

==External links==
{{Wikisource|works=or}}
{{Commons category}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Clement William Scott}}
* {{Librivox author |id=10888}}
* {{IMDb title|0238798|Poppyland (1985) (TV)}}
* [https://www.gsarchive.net/british/authors/stephenson.html Information about the Scott and Stephenson collaborations]
* {{IBDB name|406468}}
* [http://dmr.bsu.edu/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/ShtMus&CISOPTR=629&REC=15 Sheet Music for "O Promise Me"], G. Schirmer, Inc., 1889.
* {{IMSLP|id=Scott, Clement}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, Clement}}
Category:British theatre critics
Category:English travel writers
Category:Converts to Roman Catholicism
Category:1841 births
Category:1904 deaths
Category:People educated at Marlborough College

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Clement Scott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Scott) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clement_Scott?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.