David Scott is unknown, but Bolton has suggested that he may have been David Scott (1746-1805), the tenth of thirteen children of Robert Scott (1705-80) of Dunninald House, Forfarshire. He was a successful merchant working out of Bombay, but returned to Britain in 1786, became a director of the East India Company (1788-1802), and served as MP for Forfarshire in 1790-96 and Perth Burghs in 1796-1805.

It must have been some time after his return from India in 1786 that Scott commissioned the Adam brothers to make this design for a Greek cross-shaped pavilion. The scheme is not thought to have been executed.

Literature:
A.T. Bolton, The architecture of Robert and James Adam, 1922, Volume II, pp. 57, 87; D. King, The complete works of Robert & James Adam and unbuilt Adam, 2001, Volume II, p. 227; ‘Scott, David (1746-1805), of Dunninald, Forfar.’ History of parliament online; ‘Scott, David (1746-1805)’, Oxford dictionary of national biography online

Frances Sands, 2015