James George Scott
Encyclopedia
Order of the Indian Empire
The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1878. The Order includes members of three classes:#Knight Grand Commander #Knight Commander #Companion...
(pseudonym Shway Yoe, 25 December 1851 - 4 April 1935) was a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and colonial administrator who helped establish British colonial rule in Burma
British rule in Burma
British rule in Burma lasted from 1824 to 1948, from the Anglo-Burmese Wars through the creation of Burma as a province of British India to the establishment of an independently administered colony, and finally independence...
, and in addition introduced soccer
Myanmar Football Federation
The Myanmar Football Federation is the governing body of football in Myanmar. The MFF oversees the Burmese men's national team, the women's national team, and youth national teams as well as national football championships and professional club competitions.-History:Reportedly introduced during...
to Burma (now Myanmar
Myanmar
Burma , officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar , is a country in Southeast Asia. Burma is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest, the Bay of Bengal to the southwest, and the Andaman Sea on the south....
).
Life
He was born in DairsieDairsie
Dairsie, or Osnaburgh, is a village in north-east Fife, Scotland. It is south-southwest of Leuchars Junction, and east-northeast of Cupar on the A91 Stirling to St Andrews road. The village grew out of two smaller settlements , and developed principally around the industry of weaving...
, the second son of a Presbyterian minister. His elder brother was Robert Forsyth Scott
Robert Forsyth Scott
Sir Robert Forsyth Scott was a mathematician, barrister and Master of St John's College, Cambridge-Life:...
, who was to become Master of St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
. Both brothers were educated in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, then the capital of Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....
.
He worked first as a journalist. For the London Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
he covered the reprisal
Reprisal
In international law, a reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of international law to punish another sovereign state that has already broken them. Reprisals in the laws of war are extremely limited, as they commonly breached the rights of civilians, an action outlawed by the Geneva...
s for the murder of J. W. W. Birch, in Perak
Perak
Perak , one of the 13 states of Malaysia, is the second largest state in the Peninsular Malaysia bordering Kedah and Yala Province of Thailand to the north, Penang to the northwest, Kelantan and Pahang to the east, Selangor the Strait of Malacca to the south and west.Perak means silver in Malay...
, in 1875. He then reported from Burma, usually in Rangoon but also travelling to Mandalay
Mandalay
Mandalay is the second-largest city and the last royal capital of Burma. Located north of Yangon on the east bank of the Irrawaddy River, the city has a population of one million, and is the capital of Mandalay Region ....
, for the London Daily News and the St James's Gazette. He remained in Burma until 1882, and during most of this period was a schoolmaster (briefly acting headmaster) at St John's College, Rangoon. His most famous book, The Burman: his life and notions, was published at this period, under a pseudonym which mystified literary London but was no secret to people in Rangoon.
In 1884 Scott was again a full time journalist, reporting, once more for the Evening Standard, on the French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
invasion of Tongking (now northern Vietnam). This was when he began his collecting of manuscripts, documents and ephemera, which eventually became the Scott Collection at Cambridge University Library
Cambridge University Library
The Cambridge University Library is the centrally-administered library of Cambridge University in England. It comprises five separate libraries:* the University Library main building * the Medical Library...
. On the British annexation of Upper Burma
Upper Burma
Upper Burma refers to a geographic region of Burma , traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery , or more broadly speaking, Kachin and Shan States....
he was invited to join the Burma Commission, the nucleus of the colonial civil service; he returned to Burma in 1886, stationed initially at Mandalay, Meiktila
Meiktila
Meiktila is a city in central Myanmar, located on the banks of Lake Meiktila in Mandalay Division, at the junctions of the Bagan-Taunggyi, Yangon-Mandalay and Meiktila-Myingyan highways. Because of its strategic position, Meiktila is home to Myanmar Air Force's central command and Meiktila Air...
and Hlaingdet.
Andrew Marshall (Asia journalist)
Andrew Marshall is a British journalist living in Bangkok, Thailand, who specializes in Asian topics.In The Trouser People: a Story of Burma in the Shadow of the Empire, Marshall recounts the adventures of Sir George Scott as he bullied his way through uncharted jungle to establish British...
recounts Scott's adventures as he cajoled and bullied his way through uncharted jungle to establish British colonial rule in the Shan States
Shan States
The Shan States were the princely states that ruled large areas of today's Burma , Yunnan Province in China, Laos and Thailand from the late 13th century until mid-20th century...
, where the administration was initially established at Fort Stedman but soon moved to Taunggyi
Taunggyi
-Transportation:The main access to Taunggyi is by road. A railway line that passes through Taunggyi was recently built in 1995, but at the moment it offers no passenger service. Regular railway passenger service to the rest of the country is through the town of Shwenyaung, twelve miles to the...
.
His collection of manuscripts and documents was given by his brother's widow to Cambridge University Library in 1934, and, long afterwards, was catalogued by Sao Saimong
Sao Saimong
Sao Sāimöng or Sao Sāimöng Mangrāi was a member of the princely family of Kengtung. He was a government minister in Burma soon after independence; he was also a scholar, historian and linguist...
and Andrew Dalby
Andrew Dalby
Andrew Dalby is an English linguist, translator and historian who has written articles and several books on a wide range of topics including food history, language, Classical texts, and Wikipedia.-Education and early career:...
. His photographs and some of his diaries are in the India Office Library
India Office Records
The India Office Records are a very large collection of documents relating to the administration of India from 1600 to 1947, the period spanning British rule in India...
.
Bogyoke Market
Bogyoke Market
Bogyoke Aung San Market is a major bazaar located in Pabedan township in downtown Yangon, Myanmar. Known for its colonial architecture and inner cobblestone streets, the market is a major tourist destination, dominated by antique, Burmese handicraft and jewellery shops, art galleries, and clothing...
in Rangoon was originally named for him.
Family
He was married three times. His third wife was the author Geraldine MittonGeraldine Mitton
G. E. Mitton was an English novelist, biographer, editor, and guide-book writer. She was the third wife of the colonial administrator Sir George Scott, collaborated with him on several novels set in Burma, and wrote his biography.-Works:*1902...
, who survived him and wrote his biography.
Published works
- 1882 The Burman: His Life and NotionsThe Burman: His Life and NotionsThe Burman: His Life and Notions is a book about the peoples and customs of Burma . First published under the pseudonym Shway Yoe, the book was written by the Scottish journalist and British Colonial administrator James George Scott...
(under the pseudonym Shway Yoe)- New edition: New York: The Norton Library, 1963
- 1885 France and Tongking
- 1900-1901 Gazetteer of Upper Burma and the Shan States. 5 vols
- 1906 Burma: a handbook of practical information
- 1908 Cursed Luck
- 1911 Wholly Without Morals: A Romance of Indo-Burman Life and Racing (under the pseudonym Shway Dinga)
- 1924 Burma: from the earliest times to the present day
- 1932 Burma and beyond
Jointly with G. E. Mitton
- 1913 In the Grip of the Wild Wa
- 1922 The Green Moth
- 1923 A Frontier Man
- 1924 Under an Eastern Sky