New trail to honour forgotten Fife sculptor who create commando memorial

Scott Sutherland was a Scottish sculptor, best known for the Commando Memorial in Spean Bridge. He was head of sculpture at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art from 1947 until 1975.

The Commandos were established in 1940, and after the war they felt the need for a memorial of their own, to be erected near Achnacarry, their Highland training ground. In a competition restricted to sculptors of Scottish nationality or residence, with six entries Scott won the first prize of £200. The memorial was unveiled by the Queen Mother on September 27, 1952.

The Commando Memorial is supported through financial donations from the visiting public and the site is maintained by Highland Council. A new area has been created specifically for the scattering of ashes adjacent to the Garden of Remembrance.

It is rightly held in high regard and recognised as a place of National and International importance. It is maintained in memory of and as a tribute to those Commandos who gave their lives in the Second World War and in more recent conflicts.

The iconic statue, its dramatic setting in the wild and savage beauty of the rugged landscape that served as the harsh training ground has become the spiritual home for all who have served under the unique, and elite, title of Commandos. It stands alone as a rallying point for values so eloquently captured by Sutherland in 1951.

But the sculptor is less well known.

He was responsible for giving the world a statue that is instantly recognisable and can be accurately regarded as the spiritual home of all commandos.

Yet although his legacy has endured, his own life story has almost slipped between the cracks of history. He died in 1984 after suffering ill health following his retirement in 1975 and lived in Newport on Tay.

Scott was cremated in 1984 with, sadly, no recorded acknowledgement of his work. He ought to be celebrated for his work but perhaps none more fitting as the Commando Memorial.

In 2020 many regular activities had to be cancelled or postponed due to the restrictions imposed as a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic. One of these was the Remembrance Day service at the Commando Memorial. In its absence, it was thought fitting to lay a wreath on the final resting place of Scott Sutherland. It transpired that this plan wasn’t workable due to the fact that Sutherland had been cremated.

Discovering this hadn’t been straight forward or eas - . In fact there was very little information available about Scott Sutherland. Given that he had led a very public life through his work, it seemed inconsistent that although his work was firmly established and very well known the man remained on the fringes of anonymity.

At this point Sutherland was on the brink of slipping into the dark recesses of obscurity. If the Commando Memorial continues to resonate after seventy years, then it is wholly because of his creative interpretation of his 1951 brief. That legacy deserves to be acknowledged.

A permanent commemorative memorial would also allow members of the commando fraternity to express their gratitude and keep his memory alive and as a central pillar of the act of remembrance. Additionally, there is also a credible case to establish a heritage trail that links buildings and locations linked to Scott Sutherland and the Commando memorial.

Scott Sutherland’s son, David Carrack Sutherland, was approached by the writer and made aware of the desire to commemorate the iconic creation at Spean Bridge and a heritage plaque trail.

In 2021 a Scott Sutherland Project committee was formed to forward the aims of commemorating the life and work of Scott Sutherland on behalf of all members of the Commando fraternity.

Assisting the committee is the celebrated Scottish sculptor, Alan Beattie Herriot, a student of Scott Sutherland.

The Sutherland family have loaned a maquette of ‘Leaping Salmon’ that had been badly vandalised and never replaced.

The re-commissioned statue will be sculpted by Herriot and positioned in the grounds of Achnacarry House overlooking the wartime commando camp. Embedded in the plinth of the Leaping Salmon statue will be a commemorative plaque. It will replicate the one on the Commando Memorial.

The first phase of the project is to establish a trail of commemorative plaques that are linked to Sutherland and the Commando memorial. The first plaque was installed at Spean Bridge in September 2022, the second at Wick in January 2023 where Sutherland was born and married. The third has been installed in the entrance to the old College building at Abertay University in Dundee. It was through this doorway that he entered and left each working day. It was in this building that he created the clay model of the Commando Memorial.

Arrangements are well advanced for the next two plaques in the trail. Both are at the Sutherland family homes in Dundee and Newport on Tay. On April 13 several members of the Sutherland family will converge at Newport on Tay for the installation of the fourth plaque in the Commando Memorial Heritage Trail.