Edward Taylor "Ted" Scott (15 November 1883 - 22 April 1932) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 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...

, who was editor and briefly co-owner of the Manchester Guardian, and the younger son of its legendary editor-owner C. P. Scott

C. P. Scott

Charles Prestwich Scott was a British journalist, publisher and politician. Born in Bath, Somerset, he was the editor of the Manchester Guardian from 1872 until 1929 and its owner from 1907 until his death...

.

After a brief spell at the University of Oxford

University of Oxford

The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

, Ted Scott attended the London School of Economics

London School of Economics

The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...

, and eventually took a University of London

University of London

-20th century:Shortly after 6 Burlington Gardens was vacated, the University went through a period of rapid expansion. Bedford College, Royal Holloway and the London School of Economics all joined in 1900, Regent's Park College, which had affiliated in 1841 became an official divinity school of the...

 external degree

External degree

An external degree is a degree offered by a university to students who have not been required to be physically present within the geographic territory of the institution. These undergraduates may be called external students and may study at classes unconnected with the university, or independently,...

, having left the LSE to work as private secretary to Sidney Olivier

Sydney Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier

Sydney Haldane Olivier, 1st Baron Olivier, KCMG, CB, PC , was a British civil servant. A Fabian and a member of the Labour Party, he served as Governor of Jamaica and as Secretary of State for India in the first government of Ramsay MacDonald...

, the governor of Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

. While at the LSE he lodged with the family of the economist and Guardian contributor J. A. Hobson, and later married Hobson's daughter Mabel.

Ted Scott joined the Manchester Guardian in 1913 and became its commercial editor and main writer of leaders on economic policy. In the spring of 1915 he joined the army to fight in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

. In 1918 he was captured as a prisoner of war

Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

 until the end of hostilities. After the war he rejoined the paper, eventually succeeding his father as editor on July 1, 1929. Ted Scott's most important action as editor was to move the paper from its initial position of support for Ramsay MacDonald

Ramsay MacDonald

James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....

's National Government

UK National Government

In the United Kingdom the term National Government is an abstract concept referring to a coalition of some or all major political parties. In a historical sense it usually refers primarily to the governments of Ramsay MacDonald, Stanley Baldwin and Neville Chamberlain which held office from 1931...

 towards the opposition.

Ted Scott became joint owner of the Guardian with his brother John after the death of their father on New Year's Day, 1932. Less than four months later Ted Scott drowned while sailing on Windermere

Windermere (lake)

Windermere is the largest natural lake in England. It is a ribbon lake formed in a glacial trough after the retreat of ice at the start of the current interglacial. It has been one of the country’s most popular places for holidays and summer homes since the arrival of the Kendal and Windermere...

. His death put the future independence of the Guardian in doubt, as the Scott family struggled to pay the inheritance tax

Inheritance tax

An inheritance tax or estate tax is a levy paid by a person who inherits money or property or a tax on the estate of a person who has died...

es. He was succeeded as editor by W. P. Crozier

William Percival Crozier

William Percival Crozier was a British journalist and editor of the Manchester Guardian from 1932, when he succeeded Ted Scott, who had died in a sailing accident, until his death in 1944....

.