Historian on the trail of Arbroath-born sculptor

Mr Nicoll is working on a project regarding Sutherland, famous for his creation of the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge, Lochaber.

He was born in Wick in 1910 and during the Second World War he served in The Royal Artillery.

After the war, already a highly talented sculptor, Sutherland entered a competition to design a statue to commemorate the commandos who had trained on the Achnacarry Estate, near Spean Bridge.

He sculpted a scale model of three members of the service in his Dundee studio, winning the competition and the £200 prize.

The memorial now overlooks the commandos former training grounds and is a focus for many members of armed forces including The Commando Association and the Royal Marines.

Other prominent works include Arbroath’s statue of Robert Burns, which stands in front of the town library, and the Black Watch memorial just outside Dundee.

Sutherland was appointed modelling and sculpture lecturer at Belfast School of Art, later teaching sculpture at Dundee College of Technology and Art, now Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design. He remained in this position until his retirement in 1975

Kenneth Myles attended the college and in sculpted a bust of Sutherland, which his family kept but have now agreed to loan the sculpture for a year to the Scott Sutherland Project Committee.

Mr Nicoll, a member of the committee, has taken much interest in Sutherland’s career, and is keen to find out more about how Kenneth Myles connects with it.

The aim is to create a plaque to commemorate Scott Sutherland’s life and career, with a strong emphasis on his links with the Commando Memorial.

If anyone has information about Kenneth Myles which could help the project, or has contact details for his family, they can contact Mr Nicoll at [email protected].