Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Plaque, inside St Giles’ Cathedral

 Edinburgh & America  Comments Off on Robert Louis Stevenson Memorial Plaque, inside St Giles’ Cathedral
May 302025
 

High St, Edinburgh EH1 1RE

Limestone cathedral with ornate spires and windows against a blue sky with wispy coulds.
St Giles’ Cathedral © Alli Spring

The most important American link in the life of Robert Louis Stevenson (RLS) occurred while he was visiting France in 1876, for it was there that he met an American art student, Fanny Osborne. When she moved to California two years later, he found himself unbearably unhappy without her, and so he sailed to join her in 1879. He was reunited with Fanny in California, and (despite his tuberculosis) they were married in the following year, spending their three-week honeymoon in the camp of an abandoned silver mine! Later that year, RLS came back to Edinburgh with Fanny, but the climate here was unsuited to his illness, and so, after brief stays in Europe and America, he and his family spent the rest of his life cruising the South Seas, eventually settling in Samoa.

Large bronze-colored plaque showing a reclined man writing, written words, and framed by garland.
Robert Louis Stevenson plaque inside the cathedral © Alli Spring

There is no statue to RLS in Edinburgh for two reasons: one is that Stevenson himself said that he did not want one, and the other is that the principal mover in the planning of his memorial in the city of his birth, the Earl of Rosebery (who was Prime Minister at the time), had an intense dislike of statues. It was therefore decided to erect a large plaque instead. The sculptor was Augustus Saint-Gaudens, an American working in New York who was a great fan of Stevenson’s writings. The two men had met in 1887 and struck up an instant friendship. It took Saint-Gaudens several years to complete the work, which was eventually installed in 1902, eight years after Stevenson’s death.

Close-up of reclined man writing, profile view.
The author up close © Alli Spring

Andrew Carnegie Memorial Bust, inside the Edinburgh Central Library

 Edinburgh & America  Comments Off on Andrew Carnegie Memorial Bust, inside the Edinburgh Central Library
May 302025
 

7-9 George IV Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1EG

Stone carving bust of a man with a beard, wearing a suit, inside an ornate yellow and white wall inset.
Bust of Andrew Carnegie © Alli Spring

Andrew Carnegie was a Scots-born American industrialist who earned a fortune as a steel magnate, then gave much of it away in acts of beneficence. He hailed from Dunfermline, though his mother and both of his maternal grandparents were Edinburgh folk. In 1887, he was made an honorary burgess of the city of Edinburgh, and in 1935 (the centenary of his birth) the same award was bestowed upon his American wife, Louise. This gave the Carnegies the unique distinction of being the only commoner couple to receive this honour.  

Limestone building with brown wood double door and black iron gate, sign reads Central Libray.
Entrance to Edinburgh Central Library © Alli Spring

One of Andrew Carnegie’s favourite projects was the building of libraries – over 3,000 of them! – including this one, which was opened in 1890, thanks in large measure to his donation of £50,000. On St Andrew’s Day in the following year, the unveiling of a fine bust of the benefactor took place here, having been commissioned by Edinburgh Corporation from a local sculptor, Charles McBride. At the unveiling ceremony, the Lord Provost is said to have expressed that the people of Edinburgh wished to show their gratitude for Carnegie’s beneficence, and shared something to the effect of “they trusted that many generations would view this bust, and would be reminded by it of the kindness of the donor to the capital of his native country, and of the gratitude of its citizens.”        

 Newer Entries