| Robert Scott | |
| Birth Date: | 1874 6, df=y |
| Serviceyears: | 1895–1923 |
| Branch: | |
| Battles: | |
| Laterwork: | Royal Ulster Constabulary officer |
Robert Scott VC (4 June 1874 - 21 February 1961), was an English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Born in Haslingden, Lancashire, Scott worked in a cotton mill in Haslingden until 1895 when he joined the Manchester Regiment, going with his regiment to South Africa after the outbreak of the Boer War.[1]
He was a 25-year-old private in the 1st Battalion, Manchester Regiment, British Army during the Second Boer War when the following deed took place in Natal for which he and Private James Pitts were awarded the VC:
He was invested with his VC by Lord Kitchener on 8 June 1902 at Pretoria, South Africa.[1]
Still in the army during the First World War, Scott served as orderly sergeant at Ashton Barracks, Lancashire. After retiring in 1923, he worked with the Ulster Special Constabulary in Newtownards, Northern Ireland. He enlisted in the Royal Air Force in 1939 and undertook embarkation duties at Southampton Docks during Second World War. After the war he worked as a civil servant.[1]
Scott died on 21 February 1961 aged 86 at Downpatrick, Co Down, and is buried at Christchurch Cemetery, Kilkeel, Co Down.[2]
There are commemorative plaques to Scott on the house where he lived as a boy in Peel Street, Haslingden[3] and in Kilkeel.[1]
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Museum of the Manchester Regiment, Ashton-under-Lyne, England.[2]