Plans for a proposed statue to medical pioneer, Dr Elsie Inglis, on The Royal Mile will take another step forward next week.
The application to put the first statue of a woman on the High Street is to be considered by the Development Management Sub-committee of The City of Edinburgh Council on 1 October.
As the planning committee papers are not yet published (but will be made public here in the days leading up to the meeting), it is not yet known whether the officers will recommend approval or not, but the body behind the statue hope that the public hearing will be confined to planning issues.
The statue to the woman doctor who set up women’s hospitals in Edinburgh and field hospitals in France, Serbia, Russia, Corsica and Greece during the First World War, has been an idea for several years, but if the planning application is granted then it is likely to happen despite disagreement over what it looks like.
The charitable body behind it – A Statue for Elsie Inglis SCIO – say it will be paid for through new donations and also money already raised some years ago through the Lord Provost’s charity OneCityTrust. The charity’s latest accounts on the OSCR website show it is holding funds of almost £50,000. The charity’s website no longer exists on the internet as “the account has expired” and the Facebook page was paused some time ago.
History of the proposal
The route has been long and more than a bit tortuous. Early on the statue was given the blessing and backing of then Lord Provost Frank Ross who appears to remain a trustee of the charity. But after a call to artists was published, it was just as swiftly recalled and an announcement made that the King’s Sculptor in Ordinary, Sandy Stoddart had been chosen, throwing the artistic process into confusion.
The news was met with dismay by those who wanted the chance to bid to become the sculptor of the first woman statue on the Royal Mile.
The charity is keen to restrict any discussion at the planning meeting to the statue itself and the proposed location – outside 219 High Street where Dr Inglis opened a women’s hospice more than 100 years ago. But the group who want the design of the statue changed (and the call to artists reopened) are planning a sit in on The Royal Mile on the morning of the planning committee meeting. It is hoped this will be a group of breastfeeding mothers.
They also plan to speak to the meeting and have been called as an “interested party”.
The group The Proclaimers criticised the design which shows Dr Inglis in her uniform.
Earlier in the year the brothers Craig and Charlie Reid issued this statement: “Elsie Inglis was a revolutionary figure who fought tirelessly for gender equality and access to healthcare. The proposed statue fails to capture her spirit and achievements, and there is a campaign determined to ensure her legacy is honoured appropriately.
“‘We are concerned about the focus on Elsie Inglis as a war time doctor, rather than on her lifelong commitment to women’s health.
“We also believe that there is insufficient attention being paid to the historical importance of the site in High Street. We wish the campaign success in bringing accuracy to the legacy of Elsie Inglis’ life ”
The Edinburgh Reporter spoke to sculptor Natasha Ingram-Phoenix who leads the opposition to the sculpture design about her concerns in March this year.
She said in March: “I would like to have represented Elsie with a new mother with a baby to her breast under a shawl. And I would like to have represented Edinburgh as well as a city around that so I sort of have a design in mind, but I’d like to have got community feedback before putting that design out.”
Ms Ingram-Phoenix has now called for breast-feeding mothers to gather as a group at 219 High Street at 10am on 1 October to communicate “the importance of the historical site and why it matters to people today”.
She said: “They’ll be there to highlight that this is an important historical site relevant to women’s health, women’s lives and the lives of their babies. And any statue or public art should honour Elsie’s legacy with maternity care and feeding – alongside all her other amazing achievements.”
The advice given to Dr Inglis when she tried to sign up with the Royal Army Medical Corps was that she should “Go Home and Sit Still”. Instead she set up 14 Scottish Women’s Hospitals for Foreign Services.
Dr Inglis raised the equivalent of £50+ million in today’s money to found her hospitals staffed by women but who treated the men injured during the First World War. One of the hospitals was set up in Kragujevac, Serbia. After the war, the Serbian population had been decimated by a typhus epidemic and Dr Inglis worked there. She refused to leave until a boat transporting her and the Serbian soldiers was commissioned to sail to Newcastle. She arrived there in a frail condition and died on 26 November 1917.She is buried in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh.
In April 1916 Dr Inglis was awarded the Order of the White Eagle (First Class) by Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia.
