Scott, Sir Peter Markham

Sir Peter Markham Scott, (born September 14, 1909, London, England—died August 29, 1989, Bristol), British conservationist and artist. He founded the Severn Wildfowl Trust (1946; renamed the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust) and helped establish the World Wildlife Fund (1961; renamed the World Wide Fund for Nature).

Scott, who was the son of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge (1931), and studied art at the Munich State Academy in Germany and at the Royal Academy in London. In the 1930s he became known as a painter of wildlife, particularly birds, and as an accomplished single-handed yachtsman, winning the Prince of Wales Cup three times and a bronze medal at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin.

After distinguished service in the Royal Navy during World War II, Scott founded the Slimbridge Refuge (1946), a waterfowl sanctuary on the River Severn in Gloucestershire, where through a captive breeding program he saved the Hawaiian goose, or nene, from extinction in the 1950s. Scott guided the World Wildlife Fund by holding a number of leadership positions over the years. As a member of the Species Survival Commission of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (1962–81), he created the Red Data books, the group’s official lists of endangered species. He also led expeditions to such places as Antarctica and the Galapagos Islands, wrote 18 and illustrated 20 travel and wildlife books, and promoted conservation issues on the British television series Look and Survival. Scott was knighted (1973) and made a Companion of Honour (1987).