Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott was born in Kent on October 23rd, 1865, the eldest of fourteen children, to an English mother and a Scottish father with extensive properties in Australia. Having studied at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, with the intention that he would manage the Australian estates, he instead opted for a career in architecture. Between 1886 and 1889 he worked for the Bath based architect, Major Charles E. Davis, before moving to Douglas, on the Isle of Man with his new wife. Here he estabilshed himself as an architect, whilst continuing his studies in geometry and drawing at the Isle of Man School of Art.
