William Grant Stevenson RSA 07/03/1849-06/05/1919

William Grant Stevenson was born in Ratho in 1849. He was educated at the Parish school and showed his passion for art at a young age. Upon entering the Trustees’ School at the Royal Institution, he gained one gold and two silver National Medals in three successive years. In 1869 he was awarded the Stuart Prize and at only 28 years old won the competition for the Burns’ Statue in marble for Kilmarnock. 

In 1884 he successfully submitted the statue of Wallace, Aberdeen, to an open competition in which twenty-five sculptors representing England, Scotland, France and Italy took part. However, his work was not confined to sculpture. He regularly exhibited as a painter of studies of animal life, and he also showed talent in literature.