MPS to discuss statue of suffragist

Plans for a statue to honour Scottish doctor and suffragist Dr Elsie Inglis are due to be discussed at a parliamentary event.

Lib D em MS P Alex ColeHamilton and Labour colleague Daniel Johnson will hold a meeting with the Dr Elsie Inglis Scottish Women’s Hospitals’ Trust.

The trust’s proposals would see a statue placed on the Royal Mile near where the surgeon – who set up 14 Scottish Women’s hospitals on the frontline in the First World War – established her first hospital at 219 High Street.

It follows the recent unveiling of a statue to commemorate suffragist Mill i cent Fawcett, the first to depict a women in Parliament Square.

There are more than 43 statues of men in Edinburgh city centre but only two statues of women – one of Queen Victoria and one of a female victim of apartheid.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “2018 is a year for celebrating women’ s progress and it’s right that public art in Scotland keep space with there st of the UK in applauding women’s contribution to public life.

“The imbalance in Edinburgh’s statues is staggering. Statues inspire people and there are plenty of ins piring Scottish women who are unfairly missing out. Elsie made a huge contribution to the war effort in WW1, to Scottish medicine as a whole and to women’s equality. She ought to be recognised as such.”