BILL McALLISTER: Remembering sculptor Andrew Davidson and his rich Inverness legacy
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SOME 120 years ago you could stand in Inverness High Street and gaze up at The Three Graces statues, while in front of the Town House was the refurbished Mercat Cross and the Forbes Fountain.
You could view Flora Macdonald’s statue on castle hill, the cathedral’s handsome pulpit and later, 100 years ago this year, the Inverness War Memorial.
All local landmarks – and all the work of a remarkable Invernessian.
Andrew Davidson created an impressive portfolio of monumental mason and sculpting achievements yet today he seldom achieves the recognition he richly merits.
Born into a local weaver’s family in 1841, he and his brother Donald started up a successful local business in Academy Street which, by 1881, was employing 19 men and six boys in the burgh.
It was Donald, 10 years older than him, who took up stonemasonry but, following him into the occupation, Andrew was to surpass him for excellence and gain national recognition.
D & A Davidson, which long outlived its founders, proved in demand as quality stonemasons. Andrew, however, became interested in sculpture and travelled to Rome to study and work there, broadening his abilities and imagination.
In 1868, he was commissioned to create the Three Graces, to stand atop the YMCA building at the corner of High Street and Castle Street, later a tweed warehouse and FA Camerons department store, now the site of McDonald’s.
The statues were taken down in 1954, ending up in Orkney before a successful campaign for their return to Inverness led to them being re-erected beside Ness Bank Church 11 years ago.
A year after completing the Three Graces, Andrew was creating, to a design from cathedral architect Alexander Ross, the splendid pulpit, in Caen stone and Irish marble on columns of Abriachan granite, with carved side panels of angels.
Nearby stands Davidson’s bust of Bishop Robert Eden, the driving force behind the cathedral being built.
He was commissioned to build the pink and grey granite Forbes Fountain, which stood on The Exchange, in front of the Town House from 1880 before being removed for road widening in 1953 and erected on Ladies Walk, minus its canopy.
Another prestigious commission came in the form of the Flora Macdonald statue, with huge crowds attending its unveiling in 1899, and it remains an Inverness icon.
The following year, Davidson completed the refurbishment of the Mercat Cross, creating a bronze unicorn atop the burgh coat of arms. These commissions combine to show the great regard and respect which Andrew’s skills commanded locally. He was the “go-to” man for the big public sculpture.
Inside the Town House, he produced busts of Provost William Mackintosh (died 1880), Reverend Robert Macdonald (died 1982) and town chamberlain Alex Penrose Hay, who died in 1892. All three busts remain on display.
After World War I, when the burgh sought a memorial to the fallen, local architect John Hinton Gall designed the High Celtic Cross which stands in Cavell Gardens. Davidson was tasked with its creation, decorating it with Celtic knotwork, generating popular admiration which continues to this day.
Andrew was also responsible for the Kiltarlity War Memorial, unveiled by Lord Lovat on October 7, 1922, and the one overlooking the sea at Kyleakin. Uniquely, his Halkirk War Memorial in Caithness, with Alexander Ross again the architect, is a statue of a woman and child, signifying “Sorrow”.
In 1925, at the age of 85, he died in Edinburgh and was buried in the Dean Cemetery. The Inverness Courier of April 10 reported: “Inverness has lost one of its oldest and best-known citizens…. His sculptural work has been admired for design and execution and is to be seen in all parts of the north of Scotland.
“He was always a loyal son of Clachnacuddin, familiar with its story and deeply interested in its welfare.”
Greatly appreciated in his day, this wonderful craftsman merits being remembered as we gaze on his legacy.
