Classical Statue

This memorial statue stands in a paved area on the outer edge of Berwick's Elizabethan ramparts. Erected in 1892, it commemorates Dr Philip Whiteside Maclagan, the town's respected local physician.

The monument is constructed of sandstone, with the plinth made from Doddington stone. It comprises a graduated stepped base supporting a square plinth. Above this stands a 2.5-metre-high statue of Hygieia, the Greek goddess of health, characteristically depicted holding a saucer in her right hand with water for a serpent wound around a column at her side. The sculptor's signature appears on the right side at the base: D.W.S. STEVENSON RSA/Sc.

A bronze tablet is set into the square plinth, bearing a relief portrait of Maclagan in profile facing right. Below the portrait is the inscription: PHILIP WHITESIDE MACLAGAN / M.D. / BORN 9TH OCTOBER 1818 / DIED 25TH MAY 1892 / IN AFFECTIONATE & GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE / OF A NOBLE LIFE SPENT UNGRUDGINGLY / IN PROMOTING THE HIGHEST INTERESTS / OF HUMANITY / "THE BELOVED PHYSICIAN"

Dr Maclagan was born and educated in Edinburgh. He served as an army surgeon with the Royal Canadian Regiment before marrying the daughter of Dr George Johnson of Berwick in 1847. He joined Johnson's medical practice in 1853 and inherited it upon Johnson's death. Three months after Maclagan's death in May 1892, a decision was made to erect a memorial funded by public subscription. Although originally intended to be simple and modest, public contributions raised £758, allowing the Edinburgh sculptor D. W. Stevenson to be commissioned for a more ambitious design incorporating a statue of Hygieia.

The memorial was originally erected at Marygate. It was moved to a site outside the infirmary in 1922 to ease traffic congestion, and relocated by a few metres in 1993 for the same reason.

The sculptor David Watson Stevenson (1842–1904) was born near Edinburgh and trained under William Brodie. He won several national prizes in his early career and completed further studies in Rome. Elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1877, he achieved considerable national reputation. He contributed figures to the façade of the Grade A listed Scottish National Portrait Gallery and had previously sculpted a similar figure of Hygieia as a replacement for that within St Bernard's Well, Edinburgh (Category A listed), completed in 1888. His mature work combined realism, individuality, and a highly plastic style, excelling in naturalistic modelling and reflecting contemporary British and French sculptural developments.