The Scott Brothers of Oakham

The Scott family from Oakham had eight brothers who all fought in the Great War. Their father, who was a manager at Barclays Bank in Oakham before the war received a letter from King George V congratulating him on their war record. The letter was dated 29 November 1915, before the youngest son had enlisted said:

“Sir, I have the honour to inform you that the King has heard with much interest that you have at the present moment seven sons serving in His Majesty’s Forces.  I am commanded to express to you The King’a congratulations and to assure you that His Majesty much appreciates the spirit of patriotism which prompted this example in one family of loyalty and devotion to the Sovereign.”

All eight sons went to Oakham School and interestingly each one enlisted with a different regiment. One, Joseph, was already in the Army, having fought in the Boer War, and another, Claude was in Canada serving in the army there when the war began and came back over to Europe to fight. He remained in London at the Canadian HQ and died of pneumonia on 30 November 1915. He was buried in London, and isn’t on the war memorial in Oakham.

One of the other Scott brothers also died during the Great War. Charles Reginald Malcolm Scott took part in the Second Battle of the Somme and the Battle of Messines where he was gassed by the Germans. As a result he was eventually sent back to England to be treated at Reading and then was discharged from the Army through ill health and died on the 8 August 1918 as a result of the long term effects of the gas poisoning. However because he had been discharged from the Army at the time of his death he doesn’t have an official Commonwealth War Graves record, unlike his brother Claude. The remaining six brothers all survived the war.