Background
He was the son of Thomas Scrope, a Bristol merchant, the third son and ultimate heir of Colonel Adrian Scrope of Wormsley in Oxfordshire, the latter hung drawn and quartered after the restoration as one of the regicides of Charles I.
He was the son of Thomas Scrope, a Bristol merchant, the third son and ultimate heir of Colonel Adrian Scrope of Wormsley in Oxfordshire, the latter hung drawn and quartered after the restoration as one of the regicides of Charles I.
Scrope was educated at the Middle Temple and called to the bar in 1692.
In May 1708, following the Acting of Union, he was appointed a Baron (judge) of the Court of Exchequer in Scotland. In this capacity he was one of the Commissioners of the Great Seal from 26 September 1710 (following Lord Cowper"s resignation) to 19 October 1710, when Sir Simon Harcourt was appointed Lord Keeper. Elected to the Parliament of Great Britain for Ripon at the general election of 1722, he exchanged his office of Baron of the Exchequer for that of He later sat for his home city of Bristol and then from 1735 to his death for Lyme Regis.
Walpole and the Committee of Secrecy
Scrope refused to account for the money, claiming, with solicitor Paxton, it had been secret service funds for which he was only accountable to the King.
Nicholas Paxton (1690-1744), solicitor to the Treasury
Through a number of hearings Paxton continued to decline to answer certain of the questions on the grounds that he might incriminate himself. The Committee considered there was no risk of Paxton incriminating himself and that he must answer.
Paxton remained obdurate
Paxton was confined in Newgate Prison, allowed his wife"s company but neither was permitted communication with anyone nor the possession of pen or ink or paper. At the end of Parliament"s term Paxton was quietly released.
Dismissed from his post he died eighteen months later aged only 54.
Horace Walpole, who had been junior secretary to Scrope, salved his family"s conscience with regard to Paxton by making some provisions for Paxton"s son then still at Eton. The Committee of Secrecy with its squabbles and failures was quickly forgotten, so too the immense sums involved. John Scrope"s ability
Scrope"s honesty, financial knowledge and ability was such that he remained until his death at about the age of 90, serving more than 28 years in that post.
Fane also succeeded a distant cousin and became 8th Earl of Westmorland in 1762.
6th Parliament of Great Britain. 7th Parliament of Great Britain. 8th Parliament of Great Britain.
9th Parliament of Great Britain.
10th Parliament of Great Britain.