Walter Scott was born on August 15, 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the youngest child of soliciter Walter Scott. At the age of two, Scott contracted polio which left him with a limp. He was sent to live with various relatives to try and find a cure, including his Grandfather in the Borders and to Bath. In 1783 he attended the University of Edinburgh where he studied the classics. He had to leave for a year because of health problems. In 1786, Scott worked as an apprentice in his father's law firm. He returned to the University of Edinburgh in 1789 to study law, graduating in 1792. The same year he graduated, Scott qualified as a lawyer and was accepted into the Faculty of Advocates.

Scott published two translations of poems by Gottfried August Burger in 1796. He went on to translate several other German poems and plays over the next 2 years.

On Christmas Eve of 1797, Walter Scott married Margaret Genevieve Charpentier. The couple went on to have 4 children; Charlotte Sophia (born 1799), Walter (born 1801), Anne (born 1803), and Charles (born 1805). Scott had been heartbroken earlier that year when his true love Willamina Belsches married another man.

In 1799, Scott became Sheriff-Deputy of Selkirkshire, a post which he held until he died. In 1800, Scott edited and rewrote a ballad collection called Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders. In 1805, he became part owner of The Ballantyne Press which had published his The Eve of St. John in 1799. His poem The Lay of the Last Minstrel was publish that same year and became popular with the public and critics alike. He was a co-founder of the Quarterly Review, a literary journal. Scott continued to write poems and ballads each one becoming more popular than the last. In 1810, The Lady of the Lake was published and sold 25,000 copies in under 9 months.

Scott moved his family into the home that has become historically connecting with his name, Abbotsford in the Scottish borders. The family moved there in 1812. In 1813, Ballantyne Press collpsed and the companies assets were purchased by Constable and Co. They remained his publisher. However, the collapse caused Scott to have serious money problems. In 1814, he wrote a novel with the express purpose of earning money. That novel was called Waverly and it became the most successful English novel of the time. He published it anonymously. He went on to write 26 novels in the series. Scott did not admit to being the author of the novels until 1827, after 22 had already been published. Another of his great successes was Ivanhoe, which was published in 1819.

Scott was made a baron for his contributions to English literature in 1818, becoming Sir Walter Scott. In 1820, he was named president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

In 1826, Scott faced financial ruin once again when his publisher, Archibald Constable failed. This caused him to work even harder. His wife Margaret died that same year. In 1830, he began suffering from haemorrhages and in 1831 he suffered a stoke. Sir Walter Scott died at home in Abbotsford on September 21, 1832.

Sir Walter Scott was one of the world's first "superstar" authors. His works sold in the high thousands and he wrote stories that appealed to the general public. Along with Robert Burns, Scott is the best-known of the Scottish authors. His novels are very well written and they bring Scottish history to life. While the stories are highly romanticized, they are based on historical fact.