(William) Birnie Rhind


1853 - 1933

Sculptor. Born in Edinburgh, the eldest son of another sculptor John Rhind (1828-92) and brother of J. Massey Rhind (1853 - 1933) and Sir Thomas Duncan Rhind (1871 - 1921), Rhind trained with his father and the Royal Scottish Academy. He is noted as a prolific sculptor of public monuments. In 1885, he established a studio in Glasgow with his brother J. Massey Rhind, but returned to Edinburgh in 1887.

His work includes statues of Sir Peter Coats (1808-90) and Thomas Coats (1809-83) in Dunn Square (Paisley; 1895), two monuments in Dean Cemetery in Edinburgh the first for James Hamilton, 9th Baron Belhaven and Stenton (1896) and the second for Major General Sir Hector MacDonald (1904). He was responsible for the Boer War Memorial in Alloa (1904), the Black Watch Boer War Memorial on The Mound in Edinburgh (1908) and, working with his brother Sir Thomas Duncan Rhind, further Boer War Memorials in St. Giles Kirk in Edinburgh and in Hawick. He also created Monuments to the King's Own Scottish Borderers on North Bridge in Edinburgh (1906) and to the Royal Scots Greys on Princes Street (also 1906). The First World War memorials in Peebles (1919), Buckie (1921), Prestonpans (1921) and in Fettes College (Edinburgh, 1921) were also by Rhind. He was also noted for decorative friezes and sculpture attached to numerous buildings, including Midlothian County Buildings (1905). Outwith Scotland he added decorative sculpture to Wakefield County Council Offices (1897), Liverpool Cotton Exchange (1906), the Armstrong Building, Newcastle (1906), Shipley Art Gallery in Gateshead (1917) and the Manitoba Parliament Building in Winnipeg, Canada (1919), together with an equestrian statue of John Hope, the 1st Marquis of Linlithgow (1860 - 1908) in Melbourne, Australia (1908).

Birnie Rhind was elected a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1905. He is buried with his parents in Warriston Cemetery, Edinburgh, marked by a monument created by his brother, J. Massey Rhind.


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