Merlin Scott
At the early age of six Merlin became interested
in caterpillars and
butterflies and in time he naturally gained an expertise in the plants on
which these caterpillars fed.
By the time he was 20 he had seen nearly
every species of British butterfly including one rare marsh fritillary in
1939 that had not been seen since 1864.
After this particular triumph,
he left Oxford University while still an undergraduate to join up for
military service on the outbreak of World War II. Tragically, he was
killed in action on 9th May 1941 at the age of 22.
His father David
Montagu Douglas Scott, who retired from the Foreign Office in 1947,
spent the next forty years creating a remarkable garden in
Northamptonshire.
He planted rare trees and shrubs from around
the world. After David died his widow, Valerie Finnis, set up the Merlin
Trust in memory of her husband and his only son.
