HEPBURNE-SCOTT, James Patrick 1947-2025
Richard R
From the Telegraph of 12 August 2025: HEPBURNE-SCOTT James Patrick, OBE, died peacefully at home on 3rd August 2025, aged 78. Much loved husband of Christian, father of Walter, Emily and George, and grandfather of seven. A Thanksgiving Service will be held at St Mary the Virgin, Upavon, on 3rd September at 2 p.m. A celebration of his life will be held in Scotland at a later date.
He was s of Maj Hon Francis Michael HEPBURNE SCOTT MC 1920-2010 (gs of 9th Lord POLWARTH 1864-1944) and Marjorie Hamilton 1925-2017 d of Horatio John ROSS 1881-1965 and Winifred Helen 1891-1975 d of Sir Christopher Robert LIGHTON 7th Bt 1848-1929 and Helen Frances HOULDSWORTH 1859-1927 scion of that Scots gentry family of Coltness. He m 1972 Christian Diana b 1949 d of Maj John Freville Henry SURTEES MC 1919-96 scion of that gentry family f/o Redworth and Audrey Mildred 1922-2018 d of Maj Basil Baillie FALKNER c1893-1965 of Zimbabwe (s of Violet Maud Mary BAILLIE 1870-1935 scion of that Burke’s Family Records family) by his 1 June 1920 m (Christ Church, Lancaster Gate) to Bertha Phyllis GARRARD 1895-1991, and had two sons and a dau as above.
Richard R
Obit in the Times of 1 Sep 2025:
E X T R A C T
James Hepburne Scott obituary: forestry expert
Forestry expert who oversaw the planting of 13 million trees to offset carbon emissions and played the violin in a reels band, dies aged 78
… James Patrick Hepburne Scott was the eldest of three children, whose father, Francis, was a farmer and land agent. Their mother, Marjorie Ross, was a direct descendant of Hercules Ross, a Scottish merchant, friend of Horatio Nelson and campaigner for the abolition of the slave trade. Hepburne Scott’s early childhood was spent on the Clandeboye estate near Belfast, where his father was land agent, then Wales, followed by a period on the Eridge estate near Tunbridge Wells. Finally, his father bought the Cardon estate in South Lanarkshire…
… Educated at Aysgarth School in North Yorkshire and Eton College, Hepburne Scott learnt to play the violin, and at Eton joined a reels band that played for dances at the Caledonian Society; it went on to become the well-known Pictish Players.
He went to Sandhurst, where he passed out as a senior under officer, and was said to be on par for the Sword of Honour, a bid somewhat undermined after he fell asleep on his final exercise with his rifle outside his sleeping bag — judged a Sandhurst cardinal sin at the time. Commissioned into the 1st Battalion of the Black Watch, he served in Germany and Edinburgh, and in 1968 was picked for the royal guard at Balmoral, before reading for a degree in combined science at the Shrivenham Royal Military College of Science. His service in the Black Watch continued until 1977, including three tours of duty in Northern Ireland and two years in Hong Kong. His final military job was as adjutant at the Scottish infantry training depot in Aberdeen…
… In 1968, at the 21st birthday party of his cousin Andrew, he met Christian Surtees, the younger sister of Andrew’s fiancée, and they were married in London in 1972. Theirs was a happy marriage which was to last for 53 years. They had three children: Walter, a civil servant and co-founder of the MoD’s “defence green network” for military and civilian personnel; Emily, an entrepreneur and funder of BundleBean, which makes waterproof wear for babies and toddlers; and George, a chartered surveyor and director of Forest Carbon. They lived in Gloucestershire, before buying a 220-acre farm in Lauderdale, in the Borders, and building their house Larkhill, where they lived and farmed for 28 years. In 2021 they moved to Pewsey in Wiltshire. Three years later he was diagnosed with a glioblastoma; his wife and three children survive him…
… Appointed an honorary fellow of the Institute of Chartered Foresters, he served as president of the Royal Scottish Forestry Society. In 2023 he was appointed OBE for services to forestry in Scotland and the environment.
Hepburne Scott enjoyed good health and fitness, pursuing deer-stalking, canoeing and occasional sculling well into his seventies. Gregarious and endlessly inquisitive, he was often to be found at forestry and natural capital exhibitions and trade shows, drawing together wide-ranging opinions for debate. He was always interested in young people, advising them on their careers, particularly in forestry and the environment.
A keen family historian, his special subject was the relationship between his fellow clansman Sir Walter Scott and the Scotts of Mertoun and Harden, which he chronicled in A Tale of Two Homes: Abbotsford and Mertoun, and Two Families…
James Hepburne Scott OBE, forestry expert, was born on July 21, 1947. He died on August 3, 2025, after being diagnosed with a glioblastoma, aged 78
https://www.thetimes.com/article/820483c5-9ebd-4a95-b328-2777d6a13298