Born 20 July 1869 at Preston Brook, Cheshire, the eldest son of James Scotson, wine and spirit merchant, and Mary Gibson, his wife. He was educated at Warrington Grammar School and at Owens College, Manchester. He graduated MB BCh at Manchester University, and served as house surgeon at the Royal Infirmary, to which he was attached for many years as anaesthetist. He settled in Manchester and soon became one of the best-known family practitioners in the city. He was more particularly interested in the work of the Medical Services sub-committee of the British Medical Association, but he also served on the Central Midwives Board and on the Manchester Panel Committee. During the war he was surgeon to the Newbury Military Hospital. He married Winifred Connor on 18 June 1896, and died after a long illness on 27 July 1939, survived by a son and a daughter.