The latest statue to be unveiled in Edinburgh is the imposing figure of James Clerk Maxwell at the east end of George Street. This is the first statue to be erected  in George Street in almost 100 years.

 

 

It was commissioned by the Royal Society of Edinburgh  to recognise Maxwell’s contributions to the word of science and also marked the 175th anniversary of his birth. Maxwell was born in India Street and died aged only 48.

Walking round the streets of Edinburgh it is easy to overlook the many and beautiful statues which pepper our streets. But what do you have to do to get there? Would anyone build a statue for me? I imagine a kind of Taj Mahal affair…

 

Other monuments include that in Princes Street to the memory of Sir Walter Scott. 

 

Scott was born August 15, 1771, in Edinburgh, Scotland and died in 1832 at the ripe old age of 61.  Scott is one of the most renowned Scottish authors writing romantic and historical novels. I believe I can write a little but have not yet published any books.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Nelson monument on Calton Hill commemorates Admiral Lord Nelson’s victory and death at the battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805.

 

 I don’t fancy war much…

 According to the Edinburgh Council website there is a statue of Allan Ramsay

“A 10 foot high statue sculpted from an 18 ton Carrara marble block by Sir John Steell.

Allan Ramsay is depicted standing with a book in his left hand and a pencil in his right. He has a plaid over his shoulder and is wearing a silk night-cap rather than a wig. Ramsay (1686 -1758) was an Edinburgh poet and publisher and involved in the early 18th century revival of Scots vernacular poetry. As a poet he is best remembered for his five-part work, ‘The Gentle Shepherd’.

The monument was built at the instigation of Lord Murray, a descendant of Allan Ramsay, who met the costs personally. He died in 1859, and his wife finished the project. It was originally to be sited in Ramsay Gardens where the poet lived but the foundations there collapsed in 1860. It was unveiled by Sir John McNeil on the 25 March 1865 at a dual ceremony to inaugurate the Professor John Wilson statue on the other side of the Royal Academy.”

 

So can I write poetry?……emmm….no…..

Then there is the imposing figure of Sherlock Holmes…

 

 

 

Again courtesy of Edinburgh Council we have a very nice description:-

“The Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Memorial consists of a 1 1/4 life-size bronze pedestrian statue of Sherlock Holmes on a 6 foot high sandstone plinth. Conan Doyle was born in Picardy Place.