Campaign for sculpture of feminist Elsie Inglis is 'paused' after row

The run to marque an Edinburgh sculpture successful honour of the feminist Dr Elsie Inglis has been paused.

It follows a enactment aft trustees commissioned a antheral sculptor who had not entered a submission to marque the statue.

The determination caused uproar from artists connected societal media.

Trustees said "the level of vitriol directed by immoderate contributors" was "bordering connected the defamatory" and person present temporarily stopped the campaign.

The enactment started aft the foundation trustees readying the statue connected the Royal Mile cancelled their contention to find an creator and appointed the royal sculptor Alexander Stoddart instead.

It said the rethink came aft watching the Queen's cortege successful Edinburgh past month, saying the statue "needed to conscionable with the humanities consciousness of the Royal Mile".

However, artists criticised the determination by the charity, which raised implicit £50,000, saying it ignored its ain contention rules.

Sculptors, immoderate of whom had spent hundreds of hours connected their contention entries, insisted the determination was "wrong" and "unfair".

Edinburgh writer Sara Sheridan, who wrote a publication astir pistillate statues titled 'Where are the Women?', has been campaigning for a sculpture of Elsie Inglis successful Edinburgh.

She said: "It is with large sadness that I nary longer consciousness it would beryllium authentic for maine to actively run for this cause. I would, however, reinstate my enactment if the trustees tin resoluteness the situation."

The charity, A Statue for Elsie Inglis, said: "The absorption to our determination has comprised some affirmative enactment and antagonistic but what's concerning is the level of vitriol directed by immoderate of the contributors, which is bordering connected the defamatory.

"Given this position, the trustees person taken the determination to intermission the process and bespeak connected some the affirmative and antagonistic feedback, received, peculiarly from our supporters to date, to see our options and volition marque further remark aft this play of reflection."

It is understood Mr Stoddart - the King's Sculptor successful Ordinary successful Scotland - is inactive to instrumentality connected the commission.

Natasha Phoenix, an creator who said she worked for 650 hours connected a connection for the statue competition, criticised the trustees for pausing the campaign.

She said: "It's different enactment that's not transparent, hasn't been explained and shows a implicit deficiency of comprehension arsenic to however the wide nationalist consciousness astir this.

"The trustees are acting successful a bubble of their ain making and imagining that this furore connected societal media volition conscionable disappear."

Dr Inglis, who was calved to a affluent household successful 1864, established maternity services for mediocre women successful Edinburgh.

However, Britain's allies allowed her to assistance and she acceptable up 17 Scottish women's hospitals for injured soldiers crossed Europe.

Along with colleagues and associates from the suffragist movement, she raised the equivalent of £53m successful today's wealth to bargain aesculapian instrumentality to assistance those connected the beforehand line.