Hew Lorimer

Scottish sculptor and noted family, the second son of the famous architect, Sir Robert Lorimer. Hew first attended school at Loretto School in Musselburgh. He continued his education at Magdalen College in Oxford, prior to going to France where, while immersed in studying and drawing, he made the decision to return to his native Scotland. He enrolled in a course at the schools of Design and Sculpture at Edinburgh College of Art and received his diploma in October 1934. For the next year, he worked with Eric Gill, a Catholic sculptor and stone carver, and perfected his own technique. Much of Lorimer’s work through the late 1930s and 1940s was done for specific architectural settings, but after the war, he widened his scope. During this time, he completed the massive granite sculpture, "Our Lady of the Isles," as well as a group of allegorical figures (Medicine, Science, History, Poetry, Law, Theology and Music) for the National Library of Scotland. Lorimer was married to Mary McLeod Wylie. Due to bad health during the pre-war years, Lorimer and his family moved to Kellie Castle, a Jacobean tower house dating from the 16th-early 17th century that had been in his family since 1878. They purchased it during 1948, but in 1970, he gave the castle to the National Trust for Scotland, and a permanent exhibit of his work resides there. Lorimer died in 1993. Link to Wikipedia biography