Creating an article about a specific memorial to a former pupil (Douglas Ford) made the editor speculate about the possibility of an article about memorials to other FP’s, e.g. Statues, Busts, Columns, Plaques and Postage stamps.

Sir Walter Scott’s eponymous monument and statue in Edinburgh possibly leads the way, but aside the ‘Gothic Rocket’, research has found a further dozen instances for the Abbotsford bard, including postage stamps and plaques. Alexander Graham Bell has several, the statues of which are all thus far in Canada, but many countries have commemorated him in postage stamps. In all, we have found twenty names, (including Eric Brown, Robert Fergusson, Ronnie Corbett and James Hutton). We’ll start with Scott and Bell, with the balance thereafter…Interesting that the tallest two statues in Edinburgh and Glasgow’s principal squares (St Andrews and George respectively), are memorials to High School FP’s Sir Walter Scott and Viscount Melville.

Sir Walter Scott

The gallery below shows a variety of memorials to Scott. The Princess Street Edinburgh memorial, completed in 1844 was designed by George Meikle Kemp, and is nicely complemented by a splendid Carrara marble statue of the author designed and created by the eminent Edinburgh sculptor Sir John Steell. Other figures include a statue in Selkirk, busts in the Wallace Monument, Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Royal High School. There’s one in Poet’s Corner, Westminster Abbey, and a similar version in the British Museum, who claim to have no fewer than 1,300 assorted exhibits for the author. Other images show plaques, Bank of Scotland banknotes and postage stamps. A late (only recently discovered) location is in George Square Glasgow, where currently (December 2025) the Statue and its 80 foot Pillar are being refurbished.

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Alexander Graham Bell

AGB as he has become to be known is perhaps one of world’s most famous people. Many of his memorials are in Canada, but he is widely celebrated in postage stamps, and while no memorial currently exists in the UK, that may soon be rectified – watch this space…

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Memorials to High School FP’s other than Walter Scott and Alexander Graham Bell

The following thirty or so images are depictions of around twenty further FP’s. The individual, the location and the creator are among the details recorded below the images in the gallery.