131 years since Tay Bridge disaster, fund launched for memorials

Today, a Tay Bridge Disaster memorial fund is being launched to raise cash for the memorial - exactly 131 years since the bridge collapsed, plunging the train and its passengers into Scotland's biggest river.

Descendants of some of the victims will gather at the McManus art gallery and museum in Dundee along with civic representatives of Angus, Dundee, and Fife, to launch the campaign.

The only reminder of the tragedy at the site are some of the stumps of the original bridge pier - which are visible in the water even at high tide.

The Tay Rail Bridge Disaster Memorial Trust, whose supporters include a Scottish laird whose ancestor and her granddaughter died when their train plunged into the river Tay on 28 December, 1879, want memorials to be raised on both sides of the Tay.

The bridge - the longest in the world at the time - collapsed during a storm, with many bodies being swept away and never recovered.

The campaign group is headed by the Laird of Balgonie, Stuart Morris, whose great-great-great grandmother Elizabeth Mann and her granddaughter Elizabeth Brown, 16, were killed when travelling back to Dundee having visited relations in Leuchars, Fife.

Dundee West End councillor Fraser Macpherson, one of the appeal's backers, called for the public to air its views on a fitting memorial.

He said: "There has been substantial interest in finally having a monument to the people who died when the bridge collapsed during a winter storm in 1879.

"Over the past year a trust has been established to move this project forward, under the enthusiastic chairmanship of Stuart Morris, son of the Laird of Balgonie.

"The trust has had great support from both the Fife and Dundee sides of the Tay and is now in a position to launch the appeal for funds to create a lasting and fitting monument as a proper memorial to the victims.

"We know it will require a significant amount of funding, which is why we are launching the public appeal.

"The exact form of the memorial is under discussion and we are keen to hear the views of the public."

It is hoped a main memorial in Dundee and a smaller one on the Fife side of the bridge can be put up.

Laird Morris, whose family seat is at the historic 14th century Balgonie Castle, by Markinch in Fife, said: "There should be something with people's names on it. There is a small plaque in Wormit but nothing with the names of those who died on it.

"The bodies that were recovered all had graves but those never found only have mentions on headstones. It would be nice to have a memorial with all the names of those who died."The disaster led to important changes in bridge design, construction and inspection.