Scott, Sir George Gilbert, architect, was born on 13th July 1811, at Gawcott, Buckinghamshire, of which his father, son of Thomas Scott, the commentator, was perpetual curate. His education was neglected, but he had a good drawing-master; and his love of old churches suggested his being articulated to a London architect (1827-30). His first start in life was as a designer of work-houses (1835); in 1838 he married a second cousin, Caroline Oldrid (1811-72), who bore him five sons, two of whom became architects; and soon after he built the first of several cheap and nasty churches. His 'awakening,' by the Cambridge Camden Society and an article of Pugin's, was in 1840-41; and thereafter, as a leading spirit of the Gothic revival, he built or restored 26 cathedrals, 9 abbey and 2 priory churches, 1 minster, 474 churches, 26 schools, 5 almshouses, 23 parsonages, 57 monumental works, 10 college chapels and 16 colleges, 27 public buildings, 42 mansions, &c. The Martyrs' Memorial at Oxford, St Nicholas' at Hamburg, St George's at Doncaster, the new Government Offices, Albert Memorial, and Midland Terminus in London, Preston town-hall, Glasgow University, the chapels of Exeter College, Oxford, and St John's College, Oxford, and the Episcopal cathedral at Edinburgh may be specified; but countless other notices of his work are scattered throughout this work under the different towns. He was elected an A.R.A. in 1855, an R.A. in 1861; held the professorship of Architecture at the Academy; and was knighted in 1872. He died 27th March 1878, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
See his Personal and Professional Recollections (1879), and an article in the Builder for 6th April 1878.