Gas staff appeal for help to identify mystery bust

CLUES are being sought to identify a mysterious bust that has bamboozled gas workers for nearly 40 years.

The anonymous sculpture has been in the care of Scotland Gas Networks (SGN) since the 1970s but staff have always been baffled as to who the man actually is.

Despite bearing a passing resemblance to iconic American president Abraham Lincoln, no-one has yet to put a name to the face.

Experts at the City Art Gallery and the City of Edinburgh Council Museum Collections Centre drew a blank when quizzed about the bust – and now the door has been thrown open to News readers.

The bust was originally housed at SNG’s former premises at Inchcolm House before the firm moved to Axis House, Newbridge last year. It previously held pride of place at Granton House, the former Scottish Gas HQ and most staff presumed it had been the immortalisation of a famous figure within the gas industry.

A rumour suggesting William Murdoch may be the subject – the inventor of gas lighting in 1792 – proved unreliable due to conspicuous differences in their appearance.

The conundrum appeared to be solved when a visitor to SGN offices confidently said it was a depiction of the famous Scottish physicist and mathematician James Clerk Maxwell. But again this proved to be a false dawn when investigated by SGN.

Staff are now more curious than ever to discover the identity of the mystery bust with the only inkling being an inscription which reads: “J.A. Ewing FCT Glasgow 1882”.

Following some keen detective work it has emerged that Ewing was a renowned Scottish sculptor who was commissioned to create the Robert Burns statue in Glasgow’s George Square.

John McIntosh, commercial director of Scottish Network Gas, said: “We are appealing to the public to come forward if they have any information about the mystery.

“He is obviously someone very important and we want to give him his rightful place and decide where he should live.

“The sculpture was in our old office cheerily greeting visitors for years, we just presumed it was a famous figure in the gas industry but now we are not so sure. When we moved offices he came with us but we still don’t know who he really is.”

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