Scott-James was educated under the surname James at
Brasenose College,
Oxford, and graduated in 1901. The
Dictionary of National Biography states that Scott-James "possessed a strongly developed social conscience: this manifested itself at many different points in his career in activities which, if distinct from his literary gifts, at the same time enriched them" (872). His surname was recorded as James at the time of his marriage on 26 November 1905 to Violet Eleonor Brooks. His daughter, Violet Marie Livia born in July 1906 was registered with the surname Scott-James, as were subsequent children. In 1914, Scott-James, then a close friend of
Wyndham Lewis, became the editor of the
New Weekly, which did not survive the outbreak of war later that year. During the war, Scott-James enlisted in the
Royal Garrison Artillery and fought in
France, and by the end of the war he had risen to the rank of Captain and in 1918 was awarded the
Military Cross. In 1934, Scott-James took over the editorship of the influential magazine, the
London Mercury from
J. C. Squire, in which he published many canonically recognized authors of modernism. The last issue of the
London Mercury in April 1939 contained
W. H. Auden's "
In Memory of W. B. Yeats." In 1955 he was made an
Officer of the Order of the British Empire. His daughter
Anne Scott-James also became a prominent journalist. The military historian
Max Hastings is his grandson. ==Editorships and literary positions==