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Our Founder

WWT founder Peter Scott was a conservation colossus. He has been described as both the father of conservation by David Bellamy and conservation’s “patron saint” by Sir David Attenborough. He was probably the most influential conservationist of the 20th century and was the first to be knighted (in 1973).

Peter Scott was the only child of the famous Robert Falcon Scott – “Scott of the Antarctic” – and the sculptor Kathleen Scott. His father, during his final ill-fated expedition to the South Pole, wrote a last letter to Kathleen saying: “Make the boy interested in natural history if you can. It is better than games...”

Bringing people and wildlife together for the benefit of both was Peter's vision when he founded the Severn Wildfowl Trust (later Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust - WWT) in 1946. He was also a founder and the first chairman of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) in 1961, and founder of many local and regional bodies from the Gloucestershire Trust for Nature Conservation to Falkland Conservation.

His interests and areas of expertise didn’t end there however. Peter Scott was also a painter, broadcaster, author (over 30 books written and illustrated), global traveller, war hero and champion sportsman (in skating, dinghy racing and gliding).

He married photographer Philippa Scott in Iceland in 1951 while on a trip to find the breeding grounds of the pink-footed goose, and had three children.

His legacy includes WWT’s nine UK centres, which give over a million people a year the opportunity to explore 2,600 hectares of globally important wetland habitat, and all of the wetland conservation work we carry out across the world each year.

Sir Peter Scott CH, CBE, DSC, FRS

1909 - 1989