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Highland Light Infantry Boer

This Boer war memorial occupies a dominant position forming a focal point to the eastern end of the Prince of Wales Bridge in Glasgow’s Kelvin Grove. The memorial was designed by the eminent Scottish sculptor William Birnie Rhind RSA and unveiled on 28 September 1906 by HRH Prince Arthur Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, commemorating the men of the Highland Light Infantry who fell in the South African War (1899-1902). The location of this memorial is meaningful as volunteer regiments drilled regularly in Kelvingrove Park. The sculpture is comprised of a 2 metre high soldier or army scout seated on a rocky eminence depicted as though looking out across a landscape whilst on sentry duty who reaches for his rifle perhaps as he hears something. The detail of the khaki attire is particularly notable. The ‘rock’ forms the plinth of the memorial with a lead letter dedication to the front elevation and the names of the Fallen carried on a cast bronze plaque attached to the rear elevation. The whole memorial sits atop a mound of loose boulders surrounded by a small grass and a small border tat the base enclosed by a hoop-top railing.

In February 2019 the memorial was the target of a planned vandalism attack in which large hammers were used to vitiate and dismember the stone figure, parts of which were carried away as ‘trophies’, though these were later abandoned and recovered. Broken sections of the memorial were collected and removed from the site for forensic examination as part of a police investigation. The damage to the stonework was extensive and from the outset it was evident that it would take great skill to repair. In response to articles in the press, the Trust contacted Glasgow City Council to offer conservation advice and possible funding.

In May 2019 a grant offer of £5,000 was made from War Memorials Trust Grants Scheme supported by Historic Environment Scotland towards the repair and conservation of this important war memorial. In some places it was possible to re-attach recovered fractions of stone using stainless-steel pins and resin, however hammer blows to other areas, including the figure’s boot, had obliterated the stone almost entirely and consequentially it was necessary to re-carve these sections from a new piece of stone to match the original, and attach to reinstate the original design. Copying such a figure’s profile using archive images can be extremely challenging even for the most skilled of stone masons and it took two attempts from scratch to reinstate accurately the figure’s left boot. In areas where damage was relatively small and localised, the least invasive approach, in line with best conservation practice, was to carrying out repairs using a lime mortar consolidate. As well as repair to the vandalised sections of stone, the memorial was steam cleaned and construction joints were repointed using natural lime mortar.

Its prominence makes this a popular landmark and Glaswegians can once again appreciate this fine memorial.

Further information

War Memorials Trust reference WM3042
UK National Inventory of War Memorials: 23032

War Memorials Online: 146455

If you have a concern about this memorial please contact the Trust on conservation@warmemorials.org

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