Arthur Scott

Arthur Valentine Scott (13 February 1887 – 26 July 1966) was a South Australian rower and an AIF artilleryman who saw active service on the Western Front in World War II. He was a four-time national champion who represented Australia at the 1924 Summer Olympics in the men's eight rowing crew. He was a member of the AIF #1 eight which won at the 1919 Henley Peace Regatta and brought the King's Cup to Australia. Pre-war rowing Both pre and post-war, Scott was employed as a fireman with the South Australian Railways. Scott's senior rowing was from the Murray Bridge Rowing Club. He, along with the rest of the champion Murray Bridge senior men's eight, was selected in South Australian state eights to contest the Australian men's interstate eights title at the Interstate Regattas of 1913 and 1914. They won the national title in 1913 and placed second in 1914. War service Scott enlisted in the AIF aged 28 in August 1915. He joined the 27th Bttn. in their 8th reinforcement and embarked from Adelaide on HMAT A30 Borda in January 1916. On the Western Front he served initially as a Gunner with the 10th Field Artillery. He was wounded in action at Pozieres during the height of fighting on 24 July 1916 and evacuated to hospital at Etaples. He had been promoted to Lance Corporal and then acting Sergeant before being demoted to Corporal in 1917. In September 1917 he was transferred to the 11th Field Artillery. At Agincourt in May 1918 he refused an order to go up the line, was court-martialled, demoted to Gunner and sentenced to a year in military prison. At war's end Scott rowed at the 1919 Peace Regatta at Henley-on-Thames in the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) crew which won the King's Cup which in time, became the trophy for the men's eight event contested annually at the Australian Interstate Regatta. Scott was seated in the AIF#2 crew for most of the training period leading up to the July 1919 Peace Regatta. Along with Tom McGill and George Nettam he was one of the final three crew changes made to the AIF #1 eight just ten days before the event. Later that month he again raced in the Australian AIF eight when they competed at the Inter-Allied Regatta on the Seine in Paris. Scott returned to Australia in October 1919 and just three days after disembarkation in Melbourne he raced in and won a Senior Fours event (the Steward's Challenge Cup) at the Henley on Yarra regatta in Melbourne on 25 October 1919.