Birch was born in Brixton, London, England. He studied at the Somerset House School of Design, the Berlin Royal Academy and was made an Associate of the Royal Academy, London where from 1852 on he exhibited many of his works. Birch's scultpted art may be found in several cities in the UK, in Perth, Australia and his George Brown Memorial, dedicated in 1884, in Queen’s Park, Toronto is located only about three blocks from his statue of Margaret Wilson at Knox College.

So is the statue a copy? The National Gallery explained that the 19th century technique for sculptor was to first produce a plaster model. Doubtless this was what was displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition in 1889. If a commission resulted, as came in this case from Richards, the sculptor would then reproduce the plaster model in a more durable material, in this case marble.

In doing so, assistants were often employed by the sculptor to help with the carving and this sometimes resulted in slight differences in detail. It can therefore, be fairly concluded that the statue at Knox College is a copy only in the sense that it follows the original plaster model and that, in reality, it is an original Victorian statue from the early 1990’s by C. B. Birch, a respected sculptor of the period.

One mystery remains - In his 1938 letter, Hardy indicated the statue of Margaret Wilson had been displayed at the World’s Fair in Chicago. There have been two World’s Fairs in Chicago: 1933-4 and 1893. Neither the Art Catalogues from the Fairs nor a search of internet information about the two art displays has turned up any mention of this statue. Possibly Hardy was misinformed?

Meet the Author, Brian Orr, Researcher with The Guild of One Name Studies

Back to The Covenanters, Main Page

Part One: The Covenanters: Who Were They?
Part Two : The Kirk and its Impact on the People
Part Three : Tales of the Covenanters
Part Four : What's in a Name?
Part Five : The Sanquhar Declaration
Part Six : Covenanter Ships: The Eaglewing, The Crown and Henry & Francis
Part Seven : Female Covenanters: Execution by Drowning
Part Eight : Covenanter Prisons: Bass Rock and Dunnattor Castle
Part Nine : Greyfriars Kirk and the National Covenant
Part Ten : Battle of Rullion Green
Part Eleven : Rev. James Renwick, Martyr
Part Twelve : Presbyterians in Ireland
Part Thirteen: The Final Word on the Solway Martyrs
Part Fourteen: The Margaret Wilson Statue
Part Fifteen: After the National Covenant