Better known as an architect, John Oldrrid Scott was the son of Sir Gilbert Scott (George Gilbert Scott) and his wife Caroline (née Oldrid). His brother George Gilbert Scott Junior and nephew Sir Giles Gilbert Scott were also prominent architects. In 1868 he married Mary Ann Stevens, eldest daughter of the Reverend Thomas Stevens, founder of Bradfield College. One of his nine children, Charles Marriott Oldrid Scott, worked in his architectural practice.