William Gemmell (1814-1891)

These stunning statues represent local and national characters including Robert Burns, Highland Mary and a blind fiddler. 

The collection was a gift by the late Miss Grace Picken to the former Eastwood District Council in 1995. Miss Picken wanted to make sure the statues continued to be on public display. 

In 2017, East Renfrewshire Culture and Leisure’s Arts & Heritage Team were delighted to be partners on a Heritage Lottery Funded project run by East Renfrewshire Council. During the project the statues were cleaned and restored by Olga Marantowicz of Lapiz Conservation and placed on permanent display in the Carswell Centre in Eaglesham. 

William Gemmell

William Gemmell was a joiner by trade and a self-taught sculptor who was born in Eaglesham on July 16th, 1814 and died in Pillar House, Montgomery Street on November 20th, 1891. William was the fifth of eight children, of whom only four survived to adulthood; his father, John, was a builder and died in 1822 when William was 7 years old. By 1838 the three older children had married and left the family home. William, however, continued to live there with his mother until her death in 1850, and thereafter until his own death.

Although he worked as a joiner, his passion seemed to be in sculpting. He spent three years, from 1842 to 1845, creating a group of life-size statuary representing the family circle described in Robert Burns’ poem The Cottar’s Saturday Night. Widely exhibited in the West of Scotland, these fifteen statues received much critical acclaim in the local press, and it was while on exhibition in London that they were purchased by an unknown party. It is not known if these statues are still in existence or on public display elsewhere.

The last known reference to William Gemmell practising his art, is in the form of an account rendered by James Murdoch of Ayr on 5th November, 1850, for the supply of a stone, 3 feet by 33 inches by 33 inches at a cost of £2-18s-10 1/2p, including 2 shillings and 6 pence cartage and 2 shillings and 8 pence tolls. Shortly thereafter, when in his mid-forties, William married Agnes Stevens, after which there is no evidence of his having produced any more sculptures.

The following is an extract from a column by “a Renfrewshire man” in a Kilmarnock journal of September 1895, about a walk round Eaglesham, Ballygeich and Moorhouse in which the statues at Pillar House are described:

About a hundred yards up the street from the church is the house of Mrs Wallace where we shall see something, the existence of which is unknown to many of the visitors to Eaglesham. This is a collection of statues the work of Mr William Gemmell, who was a joiner in the village and one of the most modest of men. Gemmell, who passed all his days in Eaglesham, died only three or four years ago, aged 75 and was laid to rest in the churchyard, which we have just quitted. His work shows him to have been a genius and it was only his extreme modesty that prevented him from becoming very widely known. There are only six statues here, the others having been disposed of. Mrs Wallace, who is the niece of the sculptor, acts as our guide, but regarding two of the statues she needs to tell us nothing. Who would not recognise old “Hawkie” in all the glory of his rags? He rests on his crutches; the forefinger of his right hand touching the palm of his left and his face wears his cunning, never-to-be-forgotten expression. “Hawkie” lived in the village for six weeks while the model was being taken. Opposite this is a fine group of Burns and Highland Mary… The statuary, which was chiselled in Gemmell’s younger days, was exhibited in Glasgow many years ago, but as we have indicated, exhibition was against his nature and he only cared to show his work to a few friends. As the works of an amateur artist the sculptures are surprisingly well observed with some excellent attention to fine detail. In the close-ups below you can see the stitching of the socks and the buttons and buttonholes on Burns’ clothing. Likewise, the neckerchiefs of Burns and the Fiddler, show a sophistication not present in other amateur artists’ work.

We know a little more about some of the characters that William Gemmell sculpted. 

Robert Burns and Highland Mary

This statue, by local Eaglesham artist William Gemmell, is of the Scottish poet Robert Burns and his partner Mary Campbell.

Mary Campbell was born in 1763, the daughter of Archibald and Agnes Campbell of Cowal in Argyle. She worked first as a nursemaid in the home of Gavin Hamilton, a lawyer in Mauchline, and then as a dairymaid at Coilsfiled, near Mauchline.

Robert Burns met Mary in 1786, shortly after his enforced separation from Jean Armour. Their relationship was brief but intense, lasting from 23rd April to 14th May. Mary and Robert exchanged matrimonial vows according to Scottish Law (marriage was legal at that time providing vows had been exchanged and the relationship consummated) and parted to make arrangements to emigrate to Jamaica. Burns, however, postponed his plans and unfortunately Mary died in Greenock in October 1786, possibly in premature childbirth, induced by typhus.

Burns wrote four poems about her: My Highland Lassie, c.1786; Thou Lingering Star, 1789; Will Ye Go To The Indies, My Mary, 1792; Highland Mary, c.1792

Hawkie

Hawkie, the subject of this sculpture, was born in St. Ninians, near Stirling. Hawkie, whose real name was William Cameron, started work as a tailor, but it is said that he was forced to give this up because of a deformed foot. He eventually moved to Glasgow and became both a beggar and a seller of penny dreadfuls and printed ballads. Penny dreadfuls were cheap, entertaining reading for the rapidly growing urban working classes, and were often based on melodramas performed at small theatres.

Hawkie was fascinated by public executions, possibly because he also made his living from selling “true confessions” of condemned prisoners. He was also known for his sharp wit.

Hawkie is reputed to have been a guest of William Gemmell at Pillar house for six weeks, during which time the model for the statue was produced. He died in 1851 in the Old Town Hospital, Clyde Street, Glasgow.

The Blind Fiddler

This statue is reputed to be Alexander McDonald or ‘Blind Alick’. By day he was a strolling fiddler and vocalist in Glasgow, but his living was earned in the evenings when his services were in great demand at social events. He was paid eight pennies for the first two hours and a penny a reel thereafter. Itinerant blind fiddlers were common characters in 19th century Britain, and were depicted in several works of art including an etching from 1849 by Walter Geikie which is held in the British Museum. The etching has many similarities to this statue. Along with the statue of Burns, the Blind Fiddler was exhibited on Glasgow Green in July 1849 during the Glasgow Fair. Gemmell’s display was said to be “well attended” (1)

William Hall

William Hall (1798-1888) was Eaglesham’s well-known blacksmith and many local stories survive which paint him as a colourful character. A man of great strength, he took part in lifting and throwing competitions at local fairs and is depicted in the statue throwing a shot put. He gained a reputation as a great practical joker, in one story nailing the brim of a customer’s hat to a bench and then causing such an alarm that when the startled man snatched up his hat, he left part of it fixed there. By contrast, he was also skilled in the preparation of herbal remedies for the treatment of minor ailments. The statue is reputed to have been based on the measurements taken from Hall when he was in his late forties. In 1832, Hall was also the subject of an oil painting by John Kelso Hunter from nearby Jackton.

Mother and Children

Sadly nothing is known about this poignant sculpture. It is thought that it represents a woman mourning her dying child. In Gemmell’s time Highland travellers were known to move from village to village across Scotland, finding seasonal employment on local farms. Perhaps Gemmell came across this moving situation and was inspired to recreate it.

Street Urchin

Little is known about this statue but it is likely that he was sculpted from life. In 1915, in a newspaper article written about the statues, Wallace Fairweather from Newton Mearns states:

Mr Gemmell was no slipshod artist for he brought Hawkie and his other victims from the slums of Glasgow to remain as his guests in the fresher atmosphere and less noisesome surroundings of the village while he delineated their features with a chisel.

Another article labels this statue ‘The Briggaite Youth’ perhaps giving a hint of his origins.

References:

(1) Glasgow Herald, 13 July 1849