This great son of Selkirk was in my humble opinion Scotland’s greatest water-colourists. I often wonder if the Souters of Selkirk really understand that TOM SCOTT was a GENIUS and can quite easily be compared to Constable or Turner!

Any visitor to Selkirk or Hawick should make an effort to view his work. In Hawick, at DRUMLANRIGS TOWER his work can be seen in the TOM SCOTT room a gallery solely dedicated to the great man. Also the SCOTT gallery in the Wilton museum in Hawick occasionally has exhibitions of his work. In Selkirk I believe he has works in the "AULD COURTHOUSE".

In 1877 at the age of 23 TOM decided that tailoring for his father in the family business was not for him! He became a full time student at the ROYAL SCOTTISH ACADEMY. TOM EXHIBITED HIS 1ST. WORK (A YARROW BRAE) in 1878. In 1880 TOM won the Stuart prize with a painting called "A BORDER RAID" one of my favourite SCOTT watercolours must be (AULD WAT O' HARDEN) their is an uncanny likeness between TOM and AULD WATT. Rather than get bogged down with dates, facts and figures I really would recommend reading MARJORIE COLTMANS excellent book.

Here are a few of my favourites to look for:
LEGEND OF LADYWOOD, 1889
A REIVERS RIDE, 1900
AULD WATT O' HARDEN, 1912
RETURN TO SELKIRK FROM FLODDEN (1513), 1888
SALMON LEISTERING ON THE RIVER TWEED, 1895
RETURN TO HAWICK FROM HORNSHOLE (1514), 1898
LOVE LIGHTENS LABOUR, 1904
GOLDIELANDS, THE WATCHTOWER of BRANXHOLME, 1908

I hope this small article about SELKIRKS GREATEST SON WILL ENCOURAGE THE READER TO FIND OUT MORE.