The extraordinary Elisabeth Scott
The article “The extraordinary Elisabeth Scott,” published on the Daily Echo, discusses why pioneering architect Elisabeth Scott might have hated starring in the new passport design. It is an opinion piece with contributions from a historian.
The extraordinary Elisabeth Scott
Elisabeth Whitworth Scott was born with architecture in her blood. She was the great-niece of the architects Sir George Gilbert Scott and George Frederick Bodley, and the second cousin of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott. She was one of ten children of Bernard Scott, a surgeon who saw Elisabeth home educated until the age of 14.
She grew up a quiet, modest woman. She referred to herself as ‘just an ordinary girl’, notes the Daily Echo. She rose to fame after she won an international competition to design the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in 1928.
New British passport design
In 2015, Scott was named as one of two women to make it onto the design for the new British passport. The other being mathematician Ada Lovelace.
The Daily Echo’s opinion piece makes the notion that Elisabeth would be (rather distastefully) “turning in her grave” if she knew about her face being in the new passport design. Just why they say this is unclear.
The article notes that Elisabeth never liked public attention and would shy away from the media. However, Elisabeth was a pioneer who was immensely proud of her work. For this reason, we disagree with the notion she would be “turning in her grave,” although we respect the article’s content and research.
To find out more about Elisabeth Scott and the new passport, we invite you to read the original article on the Daily Echo.
