Constituency : Stroud 1833-67
George was born as George Thomson , the son of a successful trader with interests in Russia. He was educated at Harrow and initially Oxford but switched to Cambridge due to his scientific bent. There he developed his interest in geology. Before graduating he married Emma Phipps the heiress of William Scrope and appropriated that surname. Soon after their marriage Emma was disabled in a riding accident and George kept a mistress in London with whom he had a son. Emma and George eventually adopted him as their own. George's specialist interest was volcanoes; he witnessed the eruption of Vesuvius in 1822 and published his treatise Consideration on Volcanoes in 1826. George also became involved in political questions and earned the nickname "Pamphlet Scrope" for his prolific output. He stood for Stroud in 1832 and got in after his opponent was unseated on petition.
George did not speak often in the House but wrote a number of articles on political economy where he challenged some of the Classical doctrines. He viewed the greatest economic good as social welfare and was criticised for advocating emigration as the cure for all ills. In the Reform debates he tried to remove liability to rating for the poorest.
In later years George was affected by blindness and he resigned his seat in 1867. His first wife having died he married a woman over forty years younger.
He died in 1876 aged 78.
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