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At 13 years old, James was probably living
in Kilmarnock, and was already working as a self-taught
stonemason. By 18 or 19 years all, James was working on a
headstone in Cosbie Kirk in the parish of Dundonald. A Mr all
wanted a statue of burdens and been impressed by the work of
James Thorn commissioned him to sculpt a bust. This was so
successful that James became a full-time sculptor and received
many commissions.
   
Amongst these commissions
were the statues of Tam O'Shanter, Souter Johnnie, the Inn keeper
and his wife. These were the first visual images ever produced of
these characters from Robert Burn's famous poem and so James
Thorn is therefore responsible for establishing our mental
pictures of these famous faces which have been repeated in
paintings and drawings ever since. James also created the statue
of William Wallace that stands in a small niche high up in a wall
at the end of Newmarket Street.
As James' fame spread, he
held many exhibitions in Europe and America.
James died in 1849/50 of
tuberculosis.
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