Field Visit

Date 14 November 2000

Event ID 612552

Category Recording

Type Field Visit

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/612552

Public Monuments and Sculpture Association: Edinburgh

Bronze equestrian statue, with a Royal Scots Greys trooper dressed in the uniform and with the accoutrements of the regiment when they went to South Africa in 1899. On a rock pedestal with inscription panels in bronze.

In 1903 the Town Council of Edinburgh received a letter from William Birnie Rhind requesting a site in West Princes Street Gardens, for a memorial to the Royal Scots Greys who fell in South Africa. The site was granted.

The memorial was unveiled by Lord Rosebery on 16 November 1906.

In February 1908 The Builder reported that the stone inscription slab had been damaged by the weather, William Birnie Rhind had prepared a bronze tablet to take its place, and this had just been fixed to the memorial.

Inscriptions : On bronze panel on north side (facing Frederick Street):

IN MEMORY OF / OFFICERS, NON COMMISIONED OFFICERS AND MEN / THE ROYAL SCOTS GREYS / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY / IN THE BOER WAR 1899 - 1902. Under this is a list of names.

Below, a second panel reads:

IN GLORIOUS MEMORY OF THOSE / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WAR 1939 / 1945. Under this is another list of names.

On east and west sides are panels with identical inscriptions:

IN MEMORY OF / OFFICERS, NON COMMISIONED OFFICERS & MEN / THE ROYAL SCOTS GREYS / WHO GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY

IN THE GREAT WAR 1914 - 1918. Each has a different list of names below.

Signatures : On west side of rock pedestal:

BIRNIE RHIND / Sc. 1906

Design period : 1906

Year of unveiling : 1906

Unveiling details : Unveiled by the Earl of Rosebery on 16 November 1906

Information from Public Monuments and Sculpture Association (PMSA Work Ref : EDIN0183)