George Henry Paulin

Born in 1888 in the manse at Muckhart, Clackmannanshire, Scotland, the eldest son of the Reverend George Paulin (1839–1909) and Jane Craig Panton (1853–1923).

[1] He attended Dollar Academy from 1900 to 1905 where he displayed great artistic talent, primarily as a sculptor and carver.

[2] During his youth he attracted the interest of a neighbouring artist, Sholto Johnstone Douglas who lived at Birkhill, Muckhart, where the Paulin family moved following Rev.

At the end of his college period (1912), he was awarded a Diploma in Sculpture and a travelling scholarship to Paris and Rome.

Paulin then moved to Florence, setting up studio there for 4 years, during which time he frequently visited Rome.

There is evidence[3] that he served in Italy, and this is logical given his strong command of Italian, working at least some of the time for military intelligence in Brindisi.

This work lead to his commission to create major monuments in Flanders itself, most notably that to the 51st (Highland) Division sited in the Newfoundland's Field of Remembrance at Beaumont-Hamel.

Perhaps his most noteworthy "international commission" at this time was the private family headstone (1920) on the grave of Andrew Carnegie in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery near New York City.

Another major work of this period was a statue of "King Robert of Sicily" a fictional character created by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow which sits in Kibble Palace in Glasgow.

In the Second World War, Paulin was rejected for active service, and, somewhat surprisingly perhaps, chose to work in a munitions factory in Glasgow, helping with precision engineering needs.

A similar unchosen work (though winning the competition[6] was a war memorial to the Australian Armed Forces to be erected on the Strand in London, adjacent to Australia House.

A successful and built commission of public note was the Royal Coat of Arms added as a ceiling boss to the same chapel.

In 1956, he received another commission for a life-size bust of Queen Elizabeth II for display in the Royal Scottish Academy.