Charles James Scott was admitted to Pembroke on 3 July 1875 as a pensioner aged 19, studying Classics. He was the eldest surviving son of the Rev. Francis Bagge Scott of King's Lynn, Norfolk, and was born there. Scott previously attended the Perse School, Cambridge, and received his B.A. from Pembroke in 1879, with his M.A. following in 1884. He became the Assistant Master of Wesley College, Sheffield in 1883 before moving to Beacon preparatory School in Bexhill, and Durston House preparatory School in Ealing in 1903, where he remained until 1918.