The Council has approved the planning application for a statue in memory of Dr Elsie Inglis on the Royal Mile, but after two and a half hours of discussion, rejected council officers’ recommendation to review the height of the proposed plinth on which it will stand.
At the end of the meeting, only two councillors said they wanted to reduce the height of the plinth as recommended by officers. The other seven approved the application without any condition about lowering the plinth or the statue. Officers confirmed that although a new policy has been introduced – around the time this application was lodged – which will involve approval by the Culture and Communities Committee and a Public Art Panel – it did not affect this application.
Cllr Jo Mowat said that Dr Inglis was a “radical upsetter” and this statue must be set on a plinth of equal height to others on the Mile. Cllr Alys Mumford said that she was disappointed the application is “mired in disagreement”. She felt that the council should review the height and she is concerned about accessibility for pedestrians on the pavement beside it (where there is an existing table and chairs permit). Cllr Kevin Lang – the newbie on the committee – said he was not persuaded there would be a detrimental impact on the site because of the new statue. He said: “This was an extraordinary woman worthy of recognition.” Cllr David Key said this application has exposed issues over the process but he is delighted the statue will be of a woman although he is “disappointed it is not a woman sculptor”.
For the first time Clea Thomson the great, great, great niece of the late Dr Inglis spoke in public on behalf of her family, saying that they support this planning application in full without change or amendment”. She cleared up questions about the uniform, saying that it was not military dress but rather was “designed by Elsie herself for medical service in harsh conditions abroad”. Ms Thomson said: “She wore it with pride, as did all who served in her units, 1500 women, many of them suffragists.”
She also confirmed that the family considers that the location is perfect and “has been carefully chosen because it’s on the exact site of the hospital she established for women in 1904 Elsie deliberately chose this location for her hospital in the heart of the most deprived area of Edinburgh, one of the worst slums in Europe.”
Ros Taylor said she spoke on behalf of the silent voices who did not take to social media in this debate. She said she represented the Girl Guides, St Giles’, the French Institute who have come together to get the statue onto the Royal Mile. Ms Taylor suggested that this is the right time to remember the doctor with the right sculpture, although alluded to the possibility of other statues of the pioneering doctor elsewhere in the city. She said:”We can do it right now. We’ve got an opportunity. Let’s get this one done for goodness sake. We’ve waited long enough.”
Architect John Jewett who represents the sculptor Dr Alexander Stoddart explained there were several reasons why a plinth has been considered necessary by the King’s Sculptor, including the fact that it is simply a way of making them a landmark and more visible – but there is also the matter of vandalism. He said: “A statue without pedestal would be vulnerable to vandalism and general interference. An example of this is the statue of Molly Malone in Dublin where repeated touching of bronze figure has degraded the patination on the breast, shifting the focus of the piece and downgrading the subject into something of a joke and a crude photo opportunity.” The pedestal will be used for inscriptions to display the “wealth of information we have been presented with in the long overdue opportunity to represent this noble and deserving subject”. He also said that Alexander Stoddart is adamant the plinth should not be altered. Mr Jewett said: “Having spoken to the King’s Sculptor, he said that the design is from the tip of her hat to the base of the pedestal – it’s an integral part of it. It would be like cutting a painting in half to demonstrate that it fits in a gallery.”
Fiona Garwood was involved in the Elsie Inglis Tribute Campaign who organised some of the fundraising events during a week of activity in 2022. She said that she supported the idea that the statue would be on a pedestal as it had to be “in line with the other statues in the World Heritage site”. Mrs Garwood also showed councillors photos of other city statues and a memorial to Dr Inglis in Serbia where there is a gathering each year to commemorate her which she has visited.
Elsie on the Mile has been the most vocal group and says it objects to the process by which a man has been chosen to sculpt the figure. The group’s spokesperson, Natasha Phoenix who is a sculptor herself, said the matter will now “go to Audit Scotland”. During her allotted five minutes she said: “I think we all agree here, Elsie’s family deserve a statue they can be proud of, but they were only ever shown one design by one artist. If this design is the only one permitted, then this is not public art. It is a private commission in a public space.” She concluded: “Edinburgh councillors, you have a chance to shape Scotland’s history with pride and integrity. Let’s create progress, equality, fairness and joy, just like Elsie Inglis did.”
Ian McFarlane is the chairman and founder of the Dr Inglis Scottish Women’s Hospital Trust. He objected that he had not been consulted in any way. He explained that the trust has, since 1998, devised a series of monuments and commemorative events in memory of the late doctor. He questioned who is commissioning the statue and how it is to be paid for, but agreed that as the first statue of a woman on the Royal Mile it must be “the best that we as a nation can achieve”. He called for a competition and approval process to be followed, but the time for that is too late as councillors were advised by the planning officer that they had to decide upon the application before them.
