“BARRAS Queen” Maggie McIver and scientist Mary Somerville are among the latest Scots pioneers to be honoured with commemorative plaques by heritage chiefs.
Launched five years ago, the Historic Environent Scotland (HES) initiative “celebrates the life and work of significant persons from history by highlighting the link between them and a building connected with their work or life, giving an insight into both the life of the person and the social history of local architecture”.
Yesterday Historic Environment Scotland (HES) announced the latest figures to be recognised.
A total of 12 people are added every year, with painter Joan Eardley and medical pioneer George Thomas Beatson also among thoseselected for 2017.
Martin Ross, policy and projects manager for HES, said: “By running this scheme, we are placing a spotlight on the social and human stories behind Scotland’s local and national architecture and the different contributions of those who helped to shape Scotland’s story.
“This latest group of recipients highlights this diversity and ranges from explorers and writers to mathematicians and golfers.
“We hope that by recognising them in this way it encourages people to find out more about their role in Scotland’s varied and extensive history.”
Somerville’s selection comes one month before the Royal Bank of Scotland is due to launch its new polymer £10 note, which will feature her likeness.
The money move follows a public vote and RBS chief executive Ross McEwan said the scientist had boosted “our understanding of the world in which we live”.
Meanwhile, the plaque will be sited at 53 Northumberland Street in Edinburgh, where she lived, with Eardley’s placed at 1 South Row Cottage in Catterline, the Aberdeenshire village where some of her most famous works were created.
Beatson, whose work helped revolutionise cancer treatment, will be remembered at his Woodside Crescent town house in the west end of Glasgow, while prominent golfer Willie Park Senior, a four-time Open winner, will have his installed at Ravenshaugh Road in Musselburgh, where he lived.
A plaque will be added to the Barrowland Ballroom commemorating Maggie McIver, its the Bridgeton-born founder who also established the Barras market.
McIver originally worked as a French polisher before getting a taste for business at the age of 12 after looking after a fruit barrow for a family friend.
She met her husband and business partner after opening her own fruit shop and the pair organised a Saturday market on their land in response to city crackdowns on street trading during the First World War.
Following her husband’s death, the mother of nine opened the famous dancehall on Christmas Eve in 1934 and was a millionaire at her time of death aged 78 in 1958.
Lighthouse engineer Robert Stevenson, grandfather of author Robert Louis Stevenson; Nobel prizewinner Charles Glover Barkla; iron magnate Walter Macfarlane and writer Mary Burton have also made the grade, as have sculptor Phyllis Mary Bone, explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and journalist Christian Isobel Johnstone.
Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “This latest round of plaque recipients celebrates a range people from different walks of life and various periods of Scottish history.
“It’s especially encouraging to see a greater representation for women – from astronomer Mary Sommerville to artist Joan Eardley, whose powerful paintings transformed Scotland’s everyday surroundings.
“I hope that today’s announcement will lead to a far greater recognition of the contribution each of these remarkable people have made to Scottish society and, in many cases, to the wider world.”
“This scheme helps enhance our rich cultural tradition and diverse built heritage.”
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