{{Short description|Scottish Australian journalist and fiction writer}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}} '''George Henry Firth Scott''', ({{circa|1862|lk=yes}} – 3 January 1935) was a Scottish-born Australian journalist and writer, generally known as '''G. Firth Scott'''. He was the son of George Firth Scott, Land Commissioner and Emma Elizabeth (née Barnes). He was born about 1862 at Golspie, County Sutherland, Scotland.<ref name=ref1>Details on Queensland Marriage certificate 1889/B13568.</ref>
thumbnail| ''From Franklin to Nansen: Tales of Arctic Adventure'' (1899) He came to Australia and worked as a journalist for newspapers, including ''The Hobart Mercury''<ref name=ref2>''The Hobart Mercury'' 30 August 1899. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article12752378</ref> and the Sydney ''Daily Telegraph''<ref name=ref3>''The Brisbane Courier'' 24 August 1901. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article19089140</ref> and also contributed stories to magazines including ''Belgravia''.<ref name=ref4>''The Sydney Morning Herald'' 8 May 1897. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article14111224</ref>
On 4 October 1889 he married Ailleen Murphy at St. Stephen's Cathedral, Brisbane.<ref name=ref5>''The Brisbane Courier'' Monday 4 November 1889. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3503443</ref> Ailleen was the eldest daughter of John and Hannah (née Smith) Murphy. John Murphy, who died in 1883, was police-magistrate at Roma, Queensland and had, on a number of occasions, been Mayor of Ipswich, Queensland.<ref name=ref6>"Mayors of Ipswich". http://blog.library.ipswich.qld.gov.au/lh/2010/07/12/mayors-of-ipswich/ {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120502191044/http://blog.library.ipswich.qld.gov.au/lh/2010/07/12/mayors-of-ipswich/ |date=2 May 2012 }} accessed 8 October 2012</ref>
Ailleen Scott gave birth to two children in Australia<ref name=ref7>Queensland Births Deaths Marriages Online ref 1890/B46065, New South Wales Births Deaths Marriages Online ref. 32635/1892.</ref> after which the Scotts went to Great Britain and settled there permanently,<ref name=ref8>''South Australian Register'' 2 March 1900. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article56550473</ref><ref name=ref8a>''The Queenslander'' 21 September 1901 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21266495</ref> where Ailleen gave birth to four more children. Following Aileen's death in 1919, in Surrey, England, George married Miss Gladys Tatham in London on 20 February 1920.<ref name=ref9>''The British Journal of Nursing'', 13 March 1920. http://rcnarchive.rcn.org.uk/data/VOLUME064-1920/page160-volume64-13thmarch1920.pdf accessed 8 October 2012</ref><ref name=ref9a>"Tatham Family History". http://www.saxonlodge.net/getperson.php?personID=I1319&tree=Tatham accessed 8 October 2012</ref>
George Firth Scott died on 3 January 1935 at Surrey, England.{{cn|date=November 2019}} He was survived by his second wife, Gladys.<ref name=ref10>PROBATE NOTICE: SCOTT, George Henry Firth, of Gunyah Poultry Farm, Smallfield, Horley, Surrey died 3/1/1935. Probate London 22 February 1935 to Gladys Firth Scott widow. Effects £7.3.7.</ref>
==Works== Scott is best known for his novel ''The Last Lemurian: A Westralian Romance'' (1898), however he wrote many other novels and non-fiction works. His fiction titles include: *''The Track of Midnight'' (1897) *''At Friendly Point'' (1898) *''Colonial Born: A Tale of the Queensland Bush'' (1900) *''The Twillford Mystery'' (1903) *''Possessed'' (1911) *''The Rider of Waroona'' (1912).
His non-fiction titles include: *''The Romance of Australian Exploring'' (1899) *''From Franklin to Nansen: Tales of Arctic Adventure'' (1899) *''Britain's Austral Empire: Portraits of Statesmen'' (1901) *''The Romance of Polar Exploration'' (1906) *''Daring Deeds of Polar Explorers'' (1921) *''The Reeling World'' (1931).<ref name=ref11>''Australian Literature, extended to 1950'' by E. Morris Miller, p. 422.</ref>
''The Last Lemurian'' has been described as a "lost race romance" and has been compared with other works by Australian novelists including Ernest Favenc's ''The Secret of the Australian Desert'' (1896) and John David Hennessey's ''An Australian Bush Track'' (1896). ''The Last Lemurian'' includes pygmies, a bunyip-monster, a phosphorescent Yellow Queen (who has lived for thousands of years) and reincarnation. In the novel, the remains of the fabled Lemuria were discovered somewhere in the Australian desert.
==References== {{Reflist |25em}}
==External links== * {{Gutenberg author | id=31549| name=G. Firth Scott}} * {{Gutenberg Australia |id=plusfifty-n-z.html#scottgf |author=yes |name=George Firth Scott}} * {{Internet Archive author |search=( "G. Firth Scott" OR "Scott, G. Firth" )}} * [http://www.rohpress.com/lost_worlds_australia_last_lemurian.html Read Chapter 1 of The Last Lemurian from the Lost Worlds Australia Anthology.] * {{Librivox author |id=12895}} * {{isfdb name|19766|G. Firth Scott}} * {{LCAuth|n85216906|G. Firth Scott|5|ue}}
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Scott, George Firth}} Category:19th-century births Category:1935 deaths Category:Australian male novelists Category:Scottish emigrants to Australia Category:People from Golspie