SCOTT MONUMENT INTEREST - An 18ct gold presentation pocket watch
£625
Auction: 22 July 2015 at 11:00 BST
Description
plain outer case with small engraved crest, gold dial, Roman numerals, subsidiary seconds dial, the inner cover engraved ' Presented to Mr Jno Nicol ..... displayed in finishing the Scott Monument...... After the lamented death of Mr Kemp ..Edinr 1845' plain lever movement
Dimensions
Dial diameter: 50mm
Footnote
After the death of the Scottish author Sir Walter Scott, forty-five year old George Meikle Kemp, in 1836, entered the competition to design a fitting Monument in Edinburgh to commemorate Sir Walter Scott. He was awarded third prize, the first being to Thomas Rickman and the second to Charles Fowler in association with the sculptor Charles Sievier. The Committee however decided on a second competition and in this instance Kemp was the winner. Kemp had feared his lack of architectural qualifications and reputation would disqualify him, but his design (which was similar to an unsuccessful one he had earlier submitted for the design of Glasgow Cathedral) was popular with the competition's judges, and in 1838 Kemp was awarded the contract to construct the monument. Kemp, who came from a poor shepherding family, was an entirely self-taught architect and his design was inspired from the self-taught knowledge of gothic architecture. It was acknowledged, at the time, as having the 'style and purity of Melrose Abbey'. His openwork design was based on his studies of late Gothic churches on the Continent and in Scotland.
Kemp died before the completion of the monument. Tragically he drowned in the Union Canal while returning home on a foggy night. He died intestate leaving assets of £202 and the model of Glasgow Cathedral which proved unsaleable. He was survived by his wife Elizabeth, his son and daughter. He is buried in St. Cuthbert's Kirkyard by Princes Street Gardens.
However, despite his talents, he never became a part of the established architectural profession and his untimely death means that there is little of his work to see today.
After Kemp's death the direction of the work of the monument was left in the hands of his brother-in law, William Bonnar, E.S.A., under whose supervision, and with the assistance of Mr Nicol, clerk of works, it was successfully completed on Saturday, 26th October 1844 This watch was presumably given shortly after.