Plea for return of St Andrew’s missing hand

Fife university in bid to solve riddle of damaged sculpture which they then hope to restore to its original glory in the grounds of Madras College

The owners of a much-loved statue of Scotland’s patron saint have appealed for the safe return of his left hand, years after the disciple and his digits became separated.

The larger than life-size statue of St Andrew – a copy of the sculpture by Francois Duquesnoy which has pride of place in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome – was gifted to St Andrews University in the 1960s.

It is feared students stole the hand of the statue, which is the work of Mussleburgh-born sculptor Alexander Handyside Ritchie (1804-1970).

Before its donation to St Andrews, it was a feature in the foyer of the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company building in Edinburgh where workers would touch its hand for luck.

For almost four decades, it stayed unobtrusively in the shrubbery of the Botanic Garden car park in St Andrews, and it was during this period body and hand parted company.

The university plans to clean, restore and move the historic statue to a central location, and has appealed to generations of students past and present for information leading to the whereabouts of the missing hand.

Dr Katie Stevenson, university assistant vice-principal collections, is leading the restoration project.

She said: “The hand of St Andrew is an important part of the statue’s history.

“Before it came to the university in the 1960s, St Andrew sat in the foyer of the North British & Mercantile Insurance Company building in Edinburgh and as members of staff came in to work they touched his fingers to bring them luck.

“We are pleased to be able to retrieve Andrew for conservation and repair and we hope that his new home in the gardens of the university museum on the Scores in St Andrews will allow people to enjoy him.

“It would be wonderful if we could locate his original hand for our repair work.”

The statue will be moved from its current location for restoration work before the end of this year and will be reinstated in the grounds of the university museum in spring.

In the longer term, St Andrews is hoping to give Andrew a permanent home on the lawns of Madras College in South Street.

The statue of St Andrew and its missing left appendage.