Biography

Amelia Robertson Hill (Amelia Robertson Paton before her marriage) was born in Dunfermline, Scotland and was a prominent sculptor of the nineteenth century. She began her career as a painter, following which she trained as a sculptor. Hill was known for sculpting marble busts of historical and literary figures and was commissioned to create various public sculptures, which was unusual for a woman at that time. She created a statue of David Livingstone in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, of Robert Burns in Dumfries and was the only female contributor to the statues on the Scott Monument in Edinburgh. In 1862 she married pioneer photographer David Octavius Hill, and they remained in Edinburgh. Following her husband’s death, Hill sculpted a bronze bust in his likeness for his grave which sits in Dean Cemetery.