M160 Memorial to Mrs Burns in Glasgow Cathedral

John Honeyman & Keppie designed a cream marble Doric Roman-style aedicule monument with broken curved pediment, and bronze memorial dedication panel to commemorate Frances Stewart Burns (1833–95), wife of Dr George Stewart Burns, minister of Glasgow Cathedral from 1865 until his death in 1896. The memorial is located on the N. wall of the Cathedral's N. transept. The combination of styles in the carved marble and bronze details; the Classical stema or shields; 17th-century strapwork; and Art Nouveau bud-like forms, recall decorative work at other contemporary John Honeyman & Keppie projects such as the wrought-iron gates at Queen Margaret College Anatomical Department.

Mrs Burns had been married first to a George Grant, and it was their children who commissioned the work. The client is recorded as E. H. Grant of London. In 1879, Mrs Burns gifted a new organ to the Cathedral in memory of her daughter, Frances Jane Grant (d. 1877). The memorial was described as 'in progress' in George Eyre-Todd's 1898 The Book of Glasgow Cathedral: A History and Description. 1

Authorship: This is one of over 270 jobs carried out in the office of John Honeyman & Keppie (Honeyman, Keppie & Mackintosh from 1901) during Mackintosh's time there. Mackintosh undoubtedly worked on many of these, but there is no specific evidence for his involvement in this case.