Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Scrope, William (1772-1852)
SCROPE, WILLIAM (1772–1852), artist and sportsman, son of Richard Scrope, D.D., was born in 1772. He was a direct descendant of Richard, first baron Scrope of Bolton [q. v.], lord treasurer to Edward III, and succeeded to the property of the Scropes of Castle Combe, Wiltshire, on the death of his father in 1787. In 1795 the Scrope estates of Cockerington, Lincolnshire, also passed to him [see under Scrope, Adrian]. Scrope was an excellent classical scholar, a keen sportsman, and one of the ablest amateur artists of his time. He painted views in Scotland, Italy, Sicily, and elsewhere, exhibiting occasionally at the Royal Academy, and later at the British Institution, of which he was one of the most active directors. He was frequently assisted in his work by William Simson, R.S.A. [q. v.] Throughout his life Scrope was a devotee of deer-stalking and salmon-fishing, and he published two well-known books, ‘The Art of Deerstalking,’ 1838, and ‘Days and Nights of Salmon-fishing in the Tweed,’ 1843, both illustrated with plates after Edwin and Charles Landseer, Wilkie, W. Simson, and others. They are valuable contributions to the literature of their subjects, and have been reissued, the former in 1885, the latter in 1883. Scrope rented a place near Melrose, where he lived on terms of great intimacy with Sir Walter Scott (Lockhart, Life of Scott, 1845). He was a member of the Academy of St. Luke at Rome, and a fellow of the Linnean Society. He died at his house in Belgrave Square, London, on 20 July 1852. He was the last male representative of his family. He married, in 1794, Emma Long, daughter of Charles Long, esq., of Grittleton, Wiltshire, and had an only daughter and heir, Emma Phipps; she married, in 1821, George Poulett Thomson, who then assumed the name and arms of Scrope [see Scrope, George Julius Poulett].
[Gent. Mag. 1852, ii. 201; Athenæum, 1852, p. 800; G. P. Scrope's History of Castle Combe, 1852; Graves's Dict. of Artists.]